Podcasts about hcahps

In this episode, Ray Harrell, General Counsel and Chief External Affairs Officer at Boone Memorial Hospital, discusses the hospital's recent achievements, including its top-tier HCAHPS scores, new partnerships, and upcoming initiatives like the BMH Cancer and Infusion Center. He shares insights on overcoming challenges in rural healthcare, leveraging strategic collaborations, and fostering innovation to expand access to quality care.

This week on the Healthcare Experience Matters Podcast, we are rebroadcasting our recent live webinar dedicated to HCAHPS and hosted by the Healthcare Experience Foundation coaching team. Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/NF2zfUGvJ2k  This webinar offers essential insights for CEOs and Boards regarding the upcoming HCAHPS 2.0 changes and how to enhance patient care effectively in light of these changes. During this conversation, we cover the most significant modifications to the survey that will be implemented in 2025. The webinar is co-hosted by Kim Bixler, HXF's Vice President of Client Engagement, and Katie Owens, HXF's President and co-founder. After receiving strong feedback on our two popular HCAHPS 2.0 webinars earlier this year, we realized that a third round was necessary to explore additional topics. If you missed out on those previous broadcasts, you catch up by listening to Navigating The Important Future HCAHPS Survey Changes: https://healthcareexperience.org/hcahps-survey-changes/.

This podcast discusses the upcoming changes to the HCAHPS survey in 2025, focusing on why these updates are happening and how they will benefit patients and healthcare providers. We are joined by Susan Edgman-Levitan, Executive Director of the John D. Stoeckle Center for Primary Care Innovation at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Kayce Kovanda, Corporate Compliance Communications manager at NRC Healthexplore the impact of these changes on response rates and best practices for organizations to adapt effectively and maintain a focus on quality care.This episode is sponsored by NRC Health.

This week on the Healthcare Experience Matters Podcast we are thrilled to share with you the rebroadcast of our HCAHPS 2.0 webinars covering the most important upcoming changes to the survey that will be headed our way in 2025. Last month the Healthcare Experience Foundation (HXF) team delivered two free webinars designed to prepare you and your team for success with HCAHPS 2.0. We provided a high-impact briefing on the expected changes to survey administration, including question modifications and eliminations, as well as the introduction of new domains and questions. These webinars equipped attendees with the knowledge to leverage the new CMS HCAHPS survey, allowing you to concentrate and refocus your patient experience initiatives.  The discussions were led by HXF President, Katie Owens, MHA, CPXP, and were moderated by Kim Bixler, HXF's Director of Client Engagement. If you are interested in the slides from these presentations, or any of the accompanying resources discussed in these webinars, please send Kim a message here: kim@healthcareexperience.org and she will send them over to you for free.

The art of ruckus making means doing generous work and serving others. Denise Wiseman explains the motivation behind her passion for improving the patient experience to Jim Cagliostro.    Episode Introduction  Denise explains the importance of a positive attitude in ruckus making, why healthcare needs a new paradigm of CARE, and the importance of setting rather than meeting expectations. She also highlights the need to make a ruckus about HCAHPS, the critical role of Patient Family Advisory Councils, and reminds us that all leaders are human – and everyone is a leader.    Show Topics   Making a ruckus is doing generous work  Calling for a new paradigm in healthcare Opening up conversations around the patient experience We need to make a ruckus about HCAHPS Expanding connections outside of healthcare Leaders are human too (and all of us are leaders)   07:32 Making a ruckus is doing generous work  Denise explained how Seth Godin's Akimbo program helped her to understand the definition of ‘'ruckus.''  ‘'So when I was given that opportunity to redefine my career, I took time to reflect and consider on what the right next step was for my career and also for my life. And so I took a few courses from Seth Godin and his Akimbo program and I don't know if you know much about Seth, but he ends his videos and his trainings with saying, "Go make a ruckus." And when he says that what he means, and this is a quote from him, "When we show up to make a ruckus, we're doing generous work. Work on behalf of those we seek to serve." And then he says, "We need to dig in and do something that might not work." And so when he is talking about making a ruckus, he's talking about thinking outside the box, embracing the unknown, being courageous and with a positive attitude and that's everything you'll see from Seth. It's with a positive attitude, stepping out, giving it your all, testing, trying and doing something differently. And Jim, that is exactly what we need in healthcare. And so being a Ruckus Maker, to me, is identifying those things that are problematic in healthcare. We're all aware of them. If you're on LinkedIn or in other forms, you're hearing people talk, complain about the problems of healthcare, right?  And I say, let's identify it, that's fine, but let's then understand enough that we understand the root of the problem, what's really going on to cause what we're seeing and then let's do something about it. And so that's making a ruckus, right? That's doing something about it. Let's stop blaming others, let's stop waiting for somebody else to solve it and let's take action.''   09:39 Calling for a new paradigm in healthcare Denise said a new paradigm of CARE would put the ability to take time to care back into the system.  ‘'So the second part of your question was my call for a new paradigm. And so you'll hear many people talk about the current situation in healthcare as broken and I'm one of those. And in many ways it is broken. Not everything. Not everything is broken, but we are a system in trouble. We have patients who are heavily burdened by many expectations of them, within healthcare. We have staff who are burdened by regulations, organizational policies and practices, by the current challenge of staffing, by the disconnect between those very highest in leadership and decision-making and what actually occurs in the moments of care delivery. Our current paradigm has healthcare that is not accessible to all. Our current paradigm refuses care or at least to pay for care for far too many or inadequately pays and leaves thousands financially devastated for seeking life-saving care. We have healthcare that being delivered on the backs of nurses and clinicians. They are beautifully heart-centered people for the most part and they're striving to do their very best. And when we talk about moral injury, it's true injury, they're suffering. So a new paradigm would be the definition of care and that's all CAPS, CARE. I'm talking about an experience of healthcare where there's trusted relationships between providers and patients, the patient is known by the provider, the gaps in care are eliminated, misdiagnoses and medical errors are greatly reduced if not eliminated. The new paradigm puts care, the ability to take time to care, back in healthcare. Or as my good friend Tom Dahlberg would say, "It includes love and the relationship of all connected with healthcare."   14:03 Opening up conversations around the patient experience    Denise said the patient experience starts at the first moment of engagement.  ‘'….But here's the problem, there's a bigger issue with experience. Oh, so here we go. I should be able to schedule an appointment with my physician within days, maybe weeks of needing one. But in my most recent experience, I had to wait five months to schedule an appointment with a provider. Well, that's a bad experience from the moment I've engaged with your organization. And if I'm going to your ED and I have a two hour or more wait in the waiting room before any treatment has begun, that's experience of care. If I then have questions about whether or not I can trust the care that was given to me for whatever reason, perhaps a misdiagnosis, medical error or just a simple lack of or miscommunication, that's experience of care. And after all of that, I receive a bill for care that I can't pay for or will cause me extreme financial hardship, that is experience of care. And we are completely ignoring that with our conversations on our efforts for the improvement of patient experience.''   18:21 We need to make a ruckus about HCAHPS Denise said progress in the patient experience has been minimal.  ‘'We've not improved experience, not really. The nationally publicly reported data reflects that in those first few years, we did make improvements and that's because at that time there was concern about the money, the incentives that were attached to the results and there was some fuel behind that movement. And in part I think some of it, that improvement, is attributed to Studer Group. There was a lot of effort being done. But in the last decade, I pulled the numbers just recently and I put a thing out on LinkedIn about this. In the last decade, other than the most recent declines in HCAHPS because of COVID, our national data shows we're flat, we've made minimal, if any, like a one point shift improvement across the different components of the survey….And yet we spend hundreds of millions of dollars annually to the industry of patient experience and we've seen little value. In fact, I would actually argue that we're causing damage. So when we look at the survey, I don't have a huge problem with questions on the survey. So HCAHPS, we can look at, but there are actually over 20 CAHPS surveys and more are being developed and there are good reasons behind the questions they select. So communication with nurses and doctors is critical for our patient's safety. We have to be able to understand what we need to do to take care of ourselves. We also need to be able to express how the treatments are making us feel or any other communication.''   25:47 Expanding connections outside of healthcare Denise said band-aid solutions arise when we don't listen to other perspectives.  ‘'… When we only ever hear from the same people, people with our same experiences, when we only experience the same experiences and when our knowledge is only deep, and deep is good, but it's not also wide, there's much that we do not know and our perception is narrow, it does not mean that our perception is wrong, but it's incomplete. And so when nurses only ever talk with other nurses, physicians with other physician, pharmacists with other pharmacists inside healthcare only willing to talk or listen to others from inside healthcare. And this one's really important in my opinion, when those who have positional titles or are considered thought leaders within their field are invited to the conversations or to make decisions, they're the only ones there. We're hearing only from the perspective of that group. We are then only working to solve our perspective of the problem. And this is what leads to band-aid solutions and gaps that we can't bridge. So I think it's absolutely critical for us to have a highly diverse, integrated and inclusive approach.''   36:13 Leaders are human too (and all of us are leaders)  Denise shared her leadership tips and emphasized the need for grace and understanding.  ‘'…in those positions, they're also under a lot of stress, they are triggered. And so I think the most important thing that I have learned working across our country and meeting with many different leaders is that leaders are humans. They are. I believe the majority of our leaders in healthcare, at whatever level they are, they truly come to work each day wanting to do the very best. Often they're not positioned to do their very best and they're struggling. And so when we talk about healthcare leaders, it's an area where we place a lot of blame. I see too much of that where we blame the leaders for the current situation in healthcare. And I think instead we need to seek to understand, we need to understand the very difficult positions they're in and why they are acting the way they are and making the decisions they are rather than just placing judgment on them. We need to be able to extend a hand to help and we need to be able to give some grace, if, when a leader makes a mistake because they will, we need to be able to give them grace and to let them correct. And then I think the other thing is each and every one of us, no matter what our position is, are leaders. And so how can we consider our own way of acting, mentoring, guidance, and leading in order to role model it to those around us, to those above us, et cetera. So instead of blaming and saying, well, they're acting that way, I don't have to be any better. I think each and every one of us owns our own actions and our own leadership in the space that we reside within.''   Connect with Lisa Miller on LinkedIn Connect with Jim Cagliostro on LinkedIn Connect with Denise Wiseman on LinkedIn Check out VIE Healthcare and SpendMend    You'll also hear:  From dietician to Chief Ruckus Maker: Denise's career history and lessons learned along the way. ''What I've learned the hard way is that for-profit organizations are typically, for the most part, for profit before all else''. How an Achilles injury led to a life changing patient experience.  The importance of setting patient expectations:  ‘'So that's a key word there that we're setting instead of meeting, and this is the psychology of experience. For example, a hospital is going to be noisier than your home ... .And so there's an element that talks about how do we set our patients up for that expectation, to ensure that they understand what we mean by the question on an HCAHPS survey about quiet at night. ‘' Why HCAHPS surveys still have too many gaps: ‘'… huge demographic populations are underrepresented in the responses, but as I hinted at earlier, the surveys have many gaps. They're not capturing critical components of experience, they're not elevating systemic issues from our national healthcare system.'' The critical role of PFACS (Patient Family Advisory Councils) ‘'…our PFACs are critically important, underutilized, under-supported. We ask people to volunteer their time when really they need to be a partner at the table with us and perhaps be paid in some method for their contribution.''   What To Do Next:   Subscribe to The Economics of Healthcare and receive a special report on 15 Effective Cost Savings Strategies.   There are three ways to work with VIE Healthcare:   Benchmark a vendor contract – either an existing contract or a new agreement. We can support your team with their cost savings initiatives to add resources and expertise. We set a bold cost savings goal and work together to achieve it.  VIE can perform a cost savings opportunity assessment. We dig deep into all of your spend and uncover unique areas of cost savings.  If you are interested in learning more, the quickest way to get your questions answered is to speak with Lisa Miller at lmiller@spendmend.com or directly at 732-319-5700.  

The Department of Defense has partnered with a third-party lab to test generic medications over concerns of tainted drugs. The DEA is weighing a special registration that would allow some physicians to prescribe controlled medications through telehealth appointments. And, CMS updates its HCAHPS patient experience survey. That's coming up on today's episode of Gist Healthcare Daily. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Charles Breznicky, Senior Clinical Consulting Manager, J'non Griffin, Principal, SVP, Coding, and John Rabbia, Director, Operations Consulting discuss claims-based, OASIS-based, and survey-based measures, all of which contribute to the total performance score. Learn what determinants contribute to the final score and how your home health or hospice agency can get ahead of any quality issues. Join these experts for “Beyond Star Ratings: What Impacts Patient Satisfaction Scores (HCAHPS).”  Links from this episode: Learn more about J'non: https://bit.ly/43zdTcQ  Learn more about our Coding and OASIS-E solutions: https://bit.ly/3WHGtq7  View our free on-demand webinars on this topic: https://bit.ly/3JVWjIK Follow us on social media! LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3RR6KPy  Twitter: https://bit.ly/3DAXiM  Facebook: https://bit.ly/3LrB40Q  J'non Griffin, RN MHA, HCS-D, HCS-H, HCS-C, COS-C  Principal, SVP, Coding    J'non Griffin is a registered nurse with 30+ years of clinical and leadership experience as a field nurse, agency director, regional director, executive, and consultant for home health and hospice agencies. She is an accredited ACHC and CHAP consultant and an AHIMA-approved ICD-10-CM trainer/ambassador with certifications in home care coding (HCS-D), OASIS competency (COS-C), hospice coding (HCS-H) and home care compliance (HCS-C). A frequent national speaker, she is a collaborator for Decision Health's The Diagnosis Coding Pro, has published several manuals, and assisted with online coding/OASIS instruction modules. J'non earned a master's degree in health care administration in 2005. Charles M. Breznicky Jr, RN, MSN, MBA, HCS-D Senior Clinical Consulting Manager Charles M. Breznicky Jr is Senior Clinical Consulting Manager at SimiTree, specializing in enhancing Quality, Clinical, and Operational processes within Home Health Agencies. With a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from La Salle University, he brings a unique blend of clinical expertise and strategic business acumen to drive positive transformations in the home health and hospice industry. John Rabbia, PT, DPT, MBA, MS, COS-C  Director, Operations Consulting John Rabbia is a dynamic and patient-focused Home Healthcare Executive known for his exceptional leadership in driving comprehensive quality and performance improvements while ensuring the highest standard of care. With a proven track record of skillful change management, operational acumen, and a talent for building high-performing teams, he consistently enhances productivity, efficiency, and employee engagement. Armed with a range of educational qualifications, including an MBA in Healthcare Management, advanced study certificates, and industry certifications, John combines his expertise with strong communication skills to foster organizational growth, compliance, and outstanding outcomes for patients in the home healthcare sector.

Welcome to episode six of Constructing with Care, a Podcast for healthcare executives to discuss topics affecting capital projects today. Today, your host, Leslie Tullio, is joined by Matt Bishop and Sean Ashcroft, Healthcare Core Market Leaders at DPR Construction. In this episode, they address various aspects of active campus expansions, like planning, logistics, and safety.   Key Takeaways: [1:39] Sean talks about the most important elements that take place before breaking ground. [3:09] Matt talks about one of the most challenging things that builders face when it comes to working for an active campus: Safety. [6:09] Sean addresses the shared sense of responsibility. [7:41] Matt discusses the critical priorities when caring for staff and patient safety on an active campus. [10:33] Sean emphasized the crucial importance of effective and quick communication. [11:50] Matt addresses the significance of great communication with facility staff, who also need to know what is going on and how the construction can affect them. [13:07] When is the right time to start communicating? Who are the first people that need to be communicated with about the project? [18:01] How can these expansion projects affect talent attraction and retention for hospitals? [21:30] Sean talks about the changes recorded in HCAHPS scores. [23:13] Matt talks about the role of maintaining a clean environment in a successful expansion and his perspective on the builder's role in infection control. [29:16] Matt and Sean share the most important aspects they consider builders should have under consideration: 1. Maintaining safety at all times. 2. Communicating effectively and consistently. 3. Empathy.   Mentioned in this episode: Constructing with Care Brought to you by DPR Construction: A trusted healthcare builder. Follow DPR Construction on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and LinkedIn.   Tweetables and Quotes: Matt Bishop The risks differentiate building on an active hospital campus from all the other types of construction. Safety measures on all levels are greater — it's not just the construction risks — it's risks to the patients, staff, and operations. HCAHPS scores for patient access and related elements can actually improve during renovation projects when people feel well-informed. Sean Ashcroft: When it comes to communication, it's important to remind your team that the best plan is not (usually) the first plan, it is an iterative process that they have the ability to impact and improve. As the builder on an active campus, it's our responsibility to earn trust, to develop that trust so the patients, providers, and staff are comfortable in the environment.  

On this week's episode of The Healthcare Plus Podcast, host Quint Studer is joined by special guest Tim Broderick to analyze healthcare data and share insights on why patient experience scores aren't improving. Tim Broderick has served as the data and analytics lead for Modern Healthcare Magazine since 2018.In the last 5 years, there has been very little change in HCAHPS scores across the country. HCAHPS (Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers & Systems) is the first national, standardized survey of patients' perspectives of hospital care and was first implemented in 2006. The survey captures the patient's experience of communication with doctors and nurses, responsiveness of hospital staff, communication about medicines, and other indicators of overall experience.  While many assume that COVID-19 is the cause of these stagnant HCAHPS results, Tim Broderick says the data points elsewhere. Tim and Quint take a deeper look at why patient experience scores aren't improving and where healthcare organizations have the greatest opportunities to impact them.  Listen to full episode for insights on:·       The difference in patient experience scores in acute care hospitals vs. critical access hospitals·       Why the resources we're putting into patient experience aren't getting the intended results·       The impact of survey fatigue and declining response rates on HCAHPS surveys·       The areas where doctors and nurses could have the greatest impact on patient experience scores Click here to explore Modern Healthcare's reimagined data center. About Tim BroderickTim Broderick is an award-winning data journalist with Modern Healthcare magazine. His data analysis and visualizations of healthcare data fuel Modern Healthcare's new data center at modernhealthcare.com/data-centerHe joined the magazine in 2018 after working more 30 years for daily newspapers in and around Chicago. He and his family live on the Northwest Side of the city but root for the baseball team on the Southside. 

Dr. Mary Beth Maguire describes a benchmark study to measure the quality of care students deliver in simulation. The purpose was to compare national Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey data with data received from standardized patients (SPs). Findings suggest HCAHPS data can be used to model correlates of the quality of care SPs receive from students during simulation events.

The team discusses HCAHPS surveys, providers who are "too busy saving lives to be nice," and how to deal with toxic coworkers.  Tara Chadwick dives into the power of saying, "I'm sorry" and the correlation between patient outcomes and patient experience.  Watch the live recording here.------------------------Join our next live recording by registering here.If you have a suggestion for a guest speaker or topic, complete this form.Do you know of an RT who deserves a shoutout on the pod? Perhaps a promotion, birthday, or anniversary worth celebrating? We got a form for that too. 

What have you heard about UV-C Disinfection? Are all low-level disinfection devices created equally? Find out the truth about UV-C disinfection in this exciting Beyond Clean Vendor SpotlightTM with Gunner Lyslo, Founder and CEO of Surfacide. Learn how low-level disinfection with UV-C energy significantly reduces the presence of viruses and bacteria, and find out how it disinfects colonized surfaces in our operating rooms. We'll also discover how providing an added layer of disinfection with Surfacide's Best-in-Class Helios System increases patient, surgeon, and employee confidence, builds patient loyalty, and even improves HCAHPS scores. If you want to be confident that your operating rooms aren't harboring an enemy that you can't see, tune in today!  You can learn more about the world's only American made, patented, triple emitter robotic UV-C light solution available on the market today by visiting www.surfacide.com.  You can also follow Surfacide on LinkedIn and Facebook.  

What have you heard about UV-C Disinfection? Are all low-level disinfection devices created equally? Find out the truth about UV-C disinfection in this exciting First Case Vendor SpotlightTM with Gunner Lyslo, Founder and CEO of Surfacide. Learn how low-level disinfection with UV-C energy significantly reduces the presence of viruses and bacteria, and find out how it disinfects colonized surfaces in our operating rooms.  We'll also discover how providing an added layer of disinfection with Surfacide's Best-in-Class Helios System increases patient, surgeon, and employee confidence, builds patient loyalty, and even improves HCAHPS scores. If you want to be confident that your operating rooms aren't harboring an enemy that you can't see, tune in today! You can learn more about the world's only American made, patented, triple emitter robotic UV-C light solution available on the market today by visiting www.surfacide.com.  You can also follow Surfacide on LinkedIn and Facebook. #operatingroom #vendorspotlight #infectionprevention #disinfection #UVCDisinfection #education #podcast #perioperative

Supply chain interacts with basically every area of healthcare, but can these teams also help improve HCAHPS scores? Suzi Collins joins Justin Poulin, Garry Skinner and Hays Waldrop to discuss how she's using social media to reach and develop her team into valuable drivers of staff and patient satisfaction. Suzi outlines the importance of effective communication and teaching her team to have a proactive mindset to address problems quickly and help minimize challenges moving forward. Supply chain is uniquely positioned to help drive change that let clinical teams focus on delivering patient care instead of other tasks like inventory and order management, which take time away from bedside care. Tune in as Suzi promotes positivity and staff development through her role in supply chain delivering what she aptly calls "Pure Friggin' Magic"!   #PowerSupply #Podcast #Education #SupplyChain #HealthcareSupplyChain #Healthcare #Purchasing #Contracting #StrategicSourcing #PatientSatisfaction #HCAHPS #StaffDevelopment #SocialMedia

"Healthcare is focused on patient experience and outcomes. We have HCAHPS scores and quality metrics, but these are all at the end of the service line. However, farther upstream, even before a device is delivered to the hospital, there are decisions that are being made that impact those patient experiences and outcomes. How do we take into account all the variables from a higher level and integrated view? Ryan Bass joins Hays Waldrop, Garry Skinner and Justin Poulin to tell us exactly how and offers his insight on keeping patients informed with positive and negative messaging drip campaigns. That can mean letting them know when they have been impacted by a recall and need to take action, but it can also mean letting them know that they were not impacted and rest easy at night. Be sure to tune in this week for an interesting and engaging discussion!" Loving the #PowerSupply conversations? You can now download our free mobile app: Apple: https://zcu.io/sx2h Android: https://zcu.io/xJSJ And listen at: iTunes -> https://zcu.io/3Zef Spotify -> https://zcu.io/eBXx Stitcher -> https://zcu.io/2gMi Amazon Podcasts -> https://zcu.io/Xo2S Google Podcasts -> https://zcu.io/O8SY #patientexperience #patientmessaging #PowerSupply #Podcast #Education #SupplyChain #HealthcareSupplyChain #Healthcare #Purchasing #Contracting #Strategic #Sourcing

If you're a healthcare professional, then you've probably heard of HCAHPS and are collectively groaning with your colleagues throughout America. HCAHPS = Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems. This is the means by which hospitals are given money and are "rated" on their customer service and overall quality of care for their patients. Liz and Shaina discuss if this is an appropriate measurement of healthcare providers and the hospital system. There are so many nuances to consider and the labor and delivery unit has specific differences to other units that aren't taken into account in the survey. Listen to this episode and let us know YOUR thoughts! We invite you to email us, DM us on instagram, or find some other way to contact us and tell us what you think. For more information about us, our birth education businesses, and the classes we teach, visit our websites and instagram profiles: Shaina--virtual birth and breastfeeding classes, lactation consults in LA instagram.com/preparented www.preparented.com Liz--virtual and in person birth and c-section classes in LA/Santa Monica instagram.com/birthnurseliz www.birthandbeyond.net

In INBW32, I talked about telehealth. In this episode, I'm talking about collaboration between healthcare stakeholders or the lack thereof. My grandfather suffered from heart failure. This was many years ago now. But when I say suffered, I mean it. As many of you know, when heart failure is uncontrolled, it is painful to go through or even watch a loved one go through. There was that one time when I accompanied my grandfather (and my grandma was there, too) on a trip to the emergency room, you know, because he was drowning in his own lung fluid and could barely breathe. And when we arrived, they were going to wheel him into one of the exam rooms. But my grandmother put her foot down. She did not want to go into that one exam room because the TV was broken in there. Yes, the two of them had been in the ER so many times that they were familiar with the pros and cons of the various exam rooms. The end of my grandfather's life was almost unbearable, and I can't even begin to estimate the hundreds of thousands of dollars racked up in ER visits and inpatient stays. He was in the ER once a month at a minimum, and he would come home disoriented and confused. Now, as everybody listening to this show knows, this anecdote is also a data point that is, dare I say, all too common. But to that end, let me just talk about heart failure data for a second. Patients with heart failure generate a third of Medicare spending and 40% of Medicare fee-for-service deaths. They are also responsible for 55% of Medicare readmissions. You'd think that if there were any chronic condition that we'd be looking to improve outcomes on, it'd be this one. So, everybody's on it, right? Oh, wait … heart failure readmissions have actually gone up in recent years.   I just want to point out that in between ER visits and inpatient stays, my grandfather received effectively no education, no PCP or cardiology follow-ups, no community support. He did not get a case manager. He got no coaching. He got 25 pages of tiny, printed instructions just before the door hit him in the butt on his way out to the parking lot. Obvious point here, but to do any of this in-between stuff would have required collaboration between the hospital and others. And it was conspicuous in its absence. Look, this is sad and I'm not telling the story because I think it's unique. If I asked who else has a story like this one where a family member or a loved one got lost in the gaps between their care, I am suspecting that everyone would raise their hands—even those of you who have medical degrees. No matter how much any of us know or care or try to help, stories like my grandfather's are painfully and unequivocally common in this country today. OK, so how to improve care, especially for chronic care patients. At its core, and I am not telling anyone listening something that you probably have not already thought about at great length, but there are two important contributors to patient outcomes. Not the only contributors for absolutely sure, but here are two important ones: Nonfragmented patient journeys that adhere to evidence-based best-practice care. My grandfather and anyone with a chronic condition requires a patient journey that isn't a game of whack-a-mole. Carly Eckert, MD, says this so well in EP361. Steering patients to the best care setting, which is required to get the highest-value best-practice care and also reduce financial toxicity. Short but important sidebar: We know that financial toxicity is clinical toxicity. There was just a study that came out that said in 2030, a leading cause of death will be noncompliance to treatment due to patients abandoning care because it costs too much. Wayne Jenkins, MD, from Centivo (EP358) talks about other implications of financial toxicity for a half-hour. Also, there's another paper that, again, is just more on this point. At this juncture, it is not arguable. Financial toxicity is clinical toxicity. So, we need to get patients, people, customers to the next place that is the highest value for them. Doing either or both of these things—nonfragmenting the patient journey and making sure patients get to the next care setting—it requires collaboration. Let me quote Dr. Steve Klasko, who, until recently, was president and CEO over at Jefferson Health in Philly. He said—and this is an adaptation of an old Steve Jobs mantra—but Steve Klasko said that for hospitals, our old math was inpatient revenue, outpatient revenue, and in-person tuition and funding. The new math is going to be strategic partnerships around this healthcare at any address model. Right? But good collaborations don't just improve patient outcomes. Here's another benefit: They also make happier clinicians or employees. If every outside interaction is a friction point, where employees, clinicians, doctors, nurses are rubbed raw because every interaction becomes a battle, if that's the ecosystem that any given party has created for themselves, patients aren't happy and clinicians aren't happy. And since everything in healthcare spirals around that one relationship, the one between the patient and their clinicians, this could not be more vital. There's that famous Richard Branson quote, which I'll paraphrase: If you want to keep the customers happy, keep the employees happy. How anyone thinks that patients are going to get amazing care when those providing the care are miserable is just the very definition of magical thinking. All right … so, let's get into the hard thing about hard things: why with the lack of collaboration across the industry there are a lot of excuses for why parties cannot collaborate. For example, interoperability, HIPAA, legal, cyber, bureaucracy … Also, people are busy, COVID response, being overworked and burned out is a big deal. And I'm not saying that some of these are not valid, but the elephant in the room is this: In healthcare today, most (if not all) big organizations for sure and a lot of small ones have a business model that is built on revenue maximization. Look, when I'm referring to organizations as revenue maximizers, maybe I'm not talking specifically about specific departments and people working hard in those departments within any given organization. Organizations are not one-celled organisms, after all. But what I am saying is that, as a whole, healthcare organizations—the vast majority and certainly every so-called incumbent payer and health system—when you factor in the actions of the CFO, the actions of the billing department, the group that sets premiums, the one that sets prices, the group that incentivizes brokers, the group that sells to employers, the group that lobbies politicians, the group that writes the contract terms … if you factor in the whole organization, what you get is an organization who acts to maximize outcomes—financial outcomes, that is. As per my normal MO, I'm gonna say the quiet part out loud here. One big reason why parties do not collaborate is because they are thinking they are going to maximize their revenue by info blocking to prevent network leakage, or not sharing data with an employer because then the employer might steer the employee to an infusion center for their chemo, or drugs will get switched from the profitable one to the not profitable one. I just saw another article the other day, entitled “The Many Barriers to Payer-Provider Alignment on Value-based Care.” Two entities vital for a nonfragmented frictionless patient journey cannot figure out how to align incentives, share data, or even figure out what good looks like. Speaking industry-wide here, but if patient outcomes were the top of either the payer or the provider's organizational lists of priorities, I do not think that this would be the case decades later. Listen to the show with Kevin Schulman, MD (EP366); Scott Haas (EP365); or an upcoming one with Autumn Yongchu and Erik Davis coming out in a few weeks that just drives this point home.   So, can you do well by doing good? Yes, you can. I have a degree from a business school, after all; but there is a line that gets crossed when maximizing revenue harms patients. And I'll tell you how you can tell if you're over the line. And again, I'm talking organizations here who have power and control in their local markets. I would say that a lack of collaboration is a symptom. If we all agree that collaboration is essential and some organization is not doing it, maybe it is a sign. It is an actionable bit of information that I hope, if relevant, gets contemplated. For example, back to my grandfather for a sec, it's pretty well known how to reduce heart failure revisits. There are more than a few care models that have definitely been shown to work. Here is one of them, and this was talked about in Dr. William Bestermann's Substacks. There was a nurse in the Carolinas—and I talked about this before—but there was a nurse in the Carolinas who decreased heart failure readmissions markedly by simply calling up heart failure patients and making sure they were doing OK and that they understood how to take care of themselves. She was caring, and she had relationships with these patients. That's all she did.   So, hospital collaborates with a payer case manager or a CBO (community-based organization) or an MSO (management services organization), or maybe the hospital has pop health capabilities internally. I mean, we can manage to transplant important organs in this country, and most healthcare organizations cannot figure out how to work together well enough that a nurse calls up a bunch of patients? Is this some arcane or highly complex thing to do? No, it's not. But most are not doing anything even close to this because revenue maximization is the goal of one or more of the entities who would need to be a party to this, and everything else is just an excuse. If anyone is thinking interoperability right now, I've heard Don Lee say on The #HCBiz Show! often enough that there's lots of evidence at this point that interoperability has been solved from a technical standpoint. It's been solved for years. The problem is a business case problem. No one wants to be interoperable because … revenue maximization All right … aspirationally here, despite all of this, great collaborations happen every single day—collaborations that are bright spots and that definitely improve patient outcomes and reduce financial burdens short-term and long-term. Let me give you some examples: what 32BJ is doing in New York City (upcoming episode with Cora Opsahl talking about the cool things that they are doing with Mount Sinai); CINs (clinically integrated networks), like Lisa Trumble, who talks about SoNE HEALTH in EP349.   There are MSOs that work with ACOs (accountable care organizations) and others. Listen to Shawn Rhodes (EP354); also what Nicole Bradberry and Kelly Conroy are doing in Florida (EP324).   In an upcoming episode, Dave Chase from Health Rosetta: He's got one great story after another about how employers these days are teaming up with provider organizations, pharmacies, and their communities to put a serious dent in costs while raising patient outcomes and satisfaction. Doug Hetherington's episode (EP367) talks about direct contracting with hospitals. Katy Talento (EP350) talks about this also. Steve Schutzer, MD, talks about collaborating with other local orthopedic surgeons to stand up a now nationally recognized center of excellence in Connecticut (EP294). We also have some pharma companies who are developing some pretty great disease-centric resources for providers. Some pharma companies and some internal teams at those companies can actually be fair and good community players. Mike Levitt and the work that he has done on the Accountable Care Learning Collaborative, which is headed up by Dr. Eric Weaver, who has been on the show (EP277); or I'm sure after this show airs, I'm gonna hear about more. Please send them my way.   Now, look … let's get real here. These collaborations may have been initiated with, let's just say, other beneficial side effects; but they all improve care and reduce costs. If I were gonna list some common and appealing side effects that could motivate some prospective collaborators to come to the table, some of the usual suspects are proposing that the collaboration will, for example, improve HCAHPS scores, quality metrics, star ratings; improve predictable spend; reduce shock claims; avenge your common competitor and steal their market share; gang up against a payer or some consolidated health system; improve OR utilization; or improve efficiency in some way. What I would say, though, is that if leveling up patient care happens and costs do not rise as a result, that's the shared priority I'd focus on. If someone gets some beneficial side action, this is kind of the definition of doing well by doing good. All right, so let's talk about the different kinds of collaboration just briefly. I'm gonna say that there's three kinds of collaboration: Collaboration along the patient journey by multiple parties who are all along the patient journey Collaboration by parties who can help inform the patient journey, but they're not necessarily on the patient journey themselves Collaboration by parties who can help navigate the patient journey I am mentioning these three because there's often sort of this insinuation that collaborators should have equal stature in the care journey or have similar roles, that if you're not actually on the clinical journey, then you don't have any responsibility or accountability for the clinical journey and, therefore, are not a worthy collaborator. That is limiting if you are trying to figure out who you might be able to collaborate with to help you. The patient journey is not like a movie showing all the minutes a patient spends in clinic, and then all the gaps in between visits are edited out. Care can be improved at the population level, at the community level. Care can be improved at the disease or the condition level when clinicians get needed insights or information or tools. I mean, frankly, to my mind, it shouldn't be considered a plus when a pharma company or a payer actually does something in the service of improving patient outcomes. It should almost be a requirement that they do. I don't mean by delivering care in any way. And for the record, most prior auth programs are the opposite of collaborative. Payers can collaborate by supplying data, as just one example. Heck, external collaborations are great, but we also could think about collaborating internally, like invite the CFO or maybe the gang rewarding brokers with sales competitions. I don't know. I'd consider ethically dubious: Invite them to come to some meeting where oncology patients are choosing to die rather than bankrupt their families. Communication is the first step to collaboration, after all. That's a place to start. Or life science types: They can supply knowledge and expertise about specific diseases or conditions with the purpose of improving patient outcomes. Informing the patient journey could be a collaboration with some of these amazing patient efficacy organizations or CBOs that are out in the community. Now, I think one barrier to collaboration that we all need to get over is the whole, I call it, stakeholder prejudice thing. Here's what Colton Ortolf wrote on Twitter the other day. He tweeted, “Hospitals are the Lance Armstrong of healthcare. Pissed [off] at all the [crappy] things they do economically, but also grateful for all the lives they save.” If we're gonna eliminate everybody in healthcare who has revenue maximization as their organizational goal, as aforementioned, there is going to be basically no one left standing. As Ge Bai, PhD, CPA, said in EP356, there's no angels and no demons in healthcare. Everybody is both.   If we're talking about stakeholder prejudice, though, I would be remiss not to single out Pharma. When I mentioned them a sec ago, I bet some of your eyebrows went up. Here's my take on it. Consider Pharma's potential role in leveling up disease-/condition-specific outcomes. I mean, there are thousands, millions probably, of diseases and conditions and health problems out there that any given doctor or clinician has to be familiar with. Pharma has huge infrastructures and physicians and smart people who focused on, like, six of them. They know more about those six than anybody else. We pay a ton also for their drugs. It's my view that people along the patient journey should ask for what they want and need relative to the expertise that Pharma possesses. It should be about helping those providing care on the patient journey to level up the standard of care. Frankly, I'd expect collaboration from some of these entities. Ask for it on your own terms, and if all you get back is a sales pitch, you deserve better than that. Find somebody higher up on the food chain to talk to. And also, outcomes-based contracts … yeah, we need to figure out how to operationalize them so that really good drugs that actually produce outcomes like overall survival get paid for and those that do not do not. Point of note must be said: Colluding and conflict of interest is not cost neutral. If someone is getting things bought for them and then thinking, falsely, that it does not impact prescribing, that is not collaboration. Any of these revenue-maximizing hookups are not included in my definition of collaboration. So, in sum, ultimately, what we're talking about here is our legacy. As David Muhlestein, PhD, JD, talks about really well in EP364, we got to ask ourselves, What do we want to leave behind to our children and our grandchildren? Some of this is generational change, for sure. But seriously, talking about today, I mean, who wants to sign their family member up for what my grandfather went through? Right now, across the country, there are heart failure patients going through exactly what he did; and there are other patients with care journeys so dysfunctional that lives are shattered.   Chronic care patients, oncology patients … and this isn't going to change unless we contemplate, first of all, what we can do today—right now. Even little things can matter a lot, but then also to really consider what we want healthcare to look like in 20 or 25 years and then start working back from that vision and collaborating today so that, slowly and surely, we reach a place with better care that is not financially toxic. Check out the 8-Step Collaboration Roadmap for more resources to operationalize a collaboration. For more information, go to aventriahealth.com.   Each week on Relentless Health Value, Stacey uses her voice and thought leadership to provide insights for healthcare industry decision makers trying to do the right thing. Each show features expert guests who break down the twists and tricks in the medical field to help improve outcomes and lower costs across the care continuum. Relentless Health Value is a top 100 podcast on iTunes in the medicine category and reaches tens of thousands of engaged listeners across the healthcare industry. In addition to hosting Relentless Health Value, Stacey is co-president of QC-Health, a benefit corporation finding cost-effective ways to improve the health of Americans. She is also co-president of Aventria Health Group, a consultancy working with clients who endeavor to form collaborations with payers, providers, Pharma, employer organizations, or patient advocacy groups. 03:07 How do we improve care, especially for chronic care patients? 03:18 What are two important contributors to patient outcomes? 03:40 EP361 with Carly Eckert, MD. 03:56 “We know that financial toxicity is clinical toxicity.” 04:09 EP358 with Wayne Jenkins, MD. 06:05 Why can't parties across the healthcare industry seem to collaborate? 08:05 EP366 with Kevin Schulman, MD. 08:07 EP365 with Scott Haas. 08:10 Upcoming episode with Autumn Yongchu and Erik Davis. 08:34 “I would say that a lack of collaboration is a symptom.” 10:10 There's lots of evidence that interoperability has been solved. It's been solved for years. 10:37 Upcoming episode with Cora Opsahl. 10:46 EP349 with Lisa Trumble. 10:53 EP354 with Shawn Rhodes. 10:57 EP324 with Nicole Bradberry and Kelly Conroy. 11:04 Upcoming episode with Dave Chase. 11:19 EP367 with Doug Hetherington. 11:25 EP350 with Katy Talento. 11:28 EP294 with Steve Schutzer, MD. 11:50 EP277 with Eric Weaver, DHA, MHA. 13:00 What are the three kinds of collaboration in healthcare? 13:23 Do collaborators need to have equal status in a collaboration? 13:57 “Care can be improved at the population level, at the community level … at the disease or the condition level.” 15:10 How is stakeholder prejudice holding healthcare back? 15:42 EP356 with Ge Bai, PhD, CPA. 16:55 “Outcomes-based contracts … we need to figure out how to operationalize them.” 17:08 “Colluding and conflict of interest is not cost neutral.” 17:30 EP364 with David Muhlestein, PhD, JD.   For more information, go to aventriahealth.com.   Stacey discusses #healthcarecollaboration on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcollab How do we improve care, especially for chronic care patients? Stacey discusses #healthcarecollaboration on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcollab What are two important contributors to patient outcomes? Stacey discusses #healthcarecollaboration on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcollab “We know that financial toxicity is clinical toxicity.” Stacey discusses #healthcarecollaboration on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcollab Why can't parties across the healthcare industry seem to collaborate? Stacey discusses #healthcarecollaboration on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcollab “I would say that a lack of collaboration is a symptom.” Stacey discusses #healthcarecollaboration on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcollab There's lots of evidence that interoperability has been solved. It's been solved for years. Stacey discusses #healthcarecollaboration on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcollab What are the three kinds of collaboration in healthcare? Stacey discusses #healthcarecollaboration on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcollab Do collaborators need to have equal status in a collaboration? Stacey discusses #healthcarecollaboration on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcollab “Care can be improved at the population level, at the community level … at the disease or the condition level.” Stacey discusses #healthcarecollaboration on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcollab How is stakeholder prejudice holding healthcare back? Stacey discusses #healthcarecollaboration on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcollab “Outcomes-based contracts … we need to figure out how to operationalize them.” Stacey discusses #healthcarecollaboration on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcollab “Colluding and conflict of interest is not cost neutral.” Stacey discusses #healthcarecollaboration on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcollab Recent past interviews: Click a guest's name for their latest RHV episode! Ashleigh Gunter, Doug Hetherington, Dr Kevin Schulman, Scott Haas, David Muhlestein, David Scheinker, Ali Ucar, Dr Carly Eckert, Jeb Dunkelberger (EP360), Dan O'Neill, Dr Wayne Jenkins, Liliana Petrova, Ge Bai, Nikhil Krishnan, Shawn Rhodes, Pramod John (EP353), Pramod John (EP352), Dr Eric Bricker, Katy Talento, Stacey Richter (INBW33), Stacey Richter (INBW32), Dr Steve Schutzer (Encore! EP294), Lisa Trumble, Jeb Dunkelberger, Dr Ian Tong, Mike Schneider, Peter Hayes, Paul Simms  

Today, there are a myriad of ways that patients can share their experiences with hospitals and health systems online. In this episode, hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer focus on two systems: Yelp and HCAHPS and discuss their differences, and how organizations should view both in the larger scheme of measuring patient experience. Featuring an expert interview with B.G. Porter of the Studer Group in which he discusses the impact consumerism is having on how hospitals can measure and solicit input from their customers. Mentions from the Show:  What can Yelp teach us about measuring hospital quality? What Yelp can tell you about a hospital that official ratings can't Yelp Hospital Reviews Capture More Than HCAHPS Surveys The HCAHPS Survey – Frequently Asked Questions The Studer Group (Huron Consulting) online Chris Boyer on LinkedIn Chris Boyer on Twitter Reed Smith on LinkedIn Reed Smith on Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Environmental Services touches every surface of the hospital, but do we always recognize how integral they are to the infection control team?  Additionally, EVS workers have direct patient contact but have you considered how much influence they have on the patient experience?  Did you know that the patient care experience has a direct impact on the healthcare organizations finances?  Darrel Hicks has made a lifelong career advocating the important role that  EVS technicians play in healthcare, touting training and certification.  On this week's episode of Transmission Control, Darrel joins Dr. Larry Muscarella and Justin Poulin to share a deeply personal story highlighting how critical EVS is to patient care and preventing infection.  You don't want to miss this episode of Transmission Control! To learn more about HCAHPS scores click here: https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-Patient-Assessment-Instruments/HospitalQualityInits/HospitalHCAHPS Subscribe here: Apple Podcasts: https://zcu.io/URFW Amazon Podcasts: https://zcu.io/p4aZ Google Podcasts: https://zcu.io/xdB0 #EVS #environmentalservices #surfacedisinfection #cleaning #patientcare #patientexperience #HCAHPS #environmentofcare #sanitation #TransmissionControl #Podcast #Education #IPT #InfectionPrevention #InfectionControl #Infection #ICP #PublicHealth #Healthcare

Deeper dive into what is on the survey and some key things you can do as a leader to improve your scores

In this episode Chip is joined by Dr. Ken Sands – the Chief Epidemiologist at HCA Healthcare, whose system has treated tens of thousands of COVID patients. Together they look at a current Health Affairs blog co-authored by Chip on how COVID is impacting Medicare hospital quality reporting and value-based purchasing programs. These programs are critical for patient decisions and the evaluation of care provided at every hospital in the nation. Learn more about hospital reporting by listening to Chip's conversation on HCAHPS with Dr. Claudia Salzberg.

What are HCAHPS? Where did they come from? What is Press Ganey? Why are they important?

Dr. Ghazala Q Sharieff helps to improve patient interaction and satisfaction.  Watch Dr. Sharieff's presentation at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDcak_9ke-kThe focus of the Innovations in Emergency Department Management Course is on leadership, management, operations, logistics, strategic planning and healthcare reform. Hear from “been there, done that” experts who have created successful practices in the ever-changing world of emergency medicine. Although we weren't able to present our live Innovations in ED Management Course in 2020 due to Covid, check out the virtual livestream from December with some of our experts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99e5bJNcDyM

I discuss recent literature focused on ED operations. Does it pay to advertise?  Do freestanding EDs increase Medicare spending?  We also look at converting Urgent Care centers to freestanding EDs, "surprise" medical bills, the high cost of sending an emergency department bill, and ED utilization of APCs.The focus of the Innovations in Emergency Department Management Course is on leadership, management, operations, logistics, strategic planning and healthcare reform. Hear from “been there, done that” experts who have created successful practices in the ever-changing world of emergency medicine. Although we weren't able to present our live Innovations in ED Management Course in 2020 due to Covid, check out the virtual livestream from December with some of our experts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99e5bJNcDyM

Appropriate pain management is a key driver for both the patient's and healthcare professional's satisfaction. With the recent healthcare crisis and changes to how outcomes and patient satisfaction is evaluated, pain care skills have become paramount. Pediatric pain management impacts every healthcare professional's practice and IS everyone's responsibility. Yet pain care skills and pain education is sparse and inconsistent.    In this episode we discuss the scope of pediatric pain issues, why it is important to address them and why and how each healthcare professional plays a key role in children's pain management and therefore must  consider honing, at a bare minimum, their basic pain management skills.   Takeaways in This Episode Changes in in the healthcare practice and role pain management plays Scope of pediatric pain Impact of children's pain How pediatric pain care affects delivery of healthcare How healthcare costs, reimbursement and productivity are related to pain management What does healthcare professionals' satisfaction have to do with appropriate pain management or honing pain care skills? Drivers of healthcare professionals' satisfaction Drivers of patient satisfaction How pediatric pain management skills will ensure job satisfaction, and job security? Links Proactive Pain Solutions Physicians Academy Proactive Pain Solutions HCAHPS Press Ganey Scores  

David Sawin sits down with Luke Poppish, VP of Operational Excellence at South Shore Hospital to discuss the Hospital’s implementation of a mobile app for its new and expectant moms, and how the implementation has increased the hospital’s HCAHPS scores and patient engagement. To stream our Station live 24/7 visit www.HealthcareNOWRadio.com or ask Siri or Alexa to “….Play HealthcareNOW Radio”. Find all of our show episodes on your favorite podcast platforms. www.healthcarenowradio.com/listen/

Why Nathan Doesn’t Talk About Physician BurnOut Anymore]   If you would rather skim and scan before you listen, I have created some short off-the-cuff notes for your convenience. Want more info? Go to iPracticeByDesign.com for more resources. To access Nathan’s physician-specific interview content on KindleUnlimited go to Nathan’s Amazon Author page here: www.amazon.com/author/nathaneckel ***** KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE   What do you want the most in your life?   Why don’t you talk about Burnout (BO) anymore Nathan? You’re a son You’re a spouse You’ve seen this your whole life   Why don’t you care about this?!?   I DO care!    I’ve created resources I’ve interviewed MD authors who wrote books on MD BO.   So why don’t you talk about it anymore?   The F word - NOT that one   “Where Focus goes energy flows”   I struggle with a half-empty view of life - and I need to willfully change my focus   I suggest you might also need to.   If you want to focus on more burnout, there are a bunch of great podcasts on burnout.   I realized - I DONT want to do a burnout podcast.   I don’t want to focus on that.   What DO you want to talk about?   The challenges of Medicine The data The end result of the root causes of unsustainability in healthcare = BO   We’ve all had jobs (including your job) where margin is cut, the pressure is growing, the good colleagues are quitting or leaving or moving or transferring, and we have to pick up the slack   How do we fix the unsustainable rotting core of the onion?   Remember Samurai Belushi from SNL in the 70s?   The core is like a rotten onion - I don’t want to peel each layer anymore.   The root = lack of predictable reimbursements.   This makes EVERYTHING unpredictable   That hospital that just shut down abruptly outside Philadelphia   Gruesome tale - King Solomon, the women, the baby and the sword.   This is where we are at in healthcare - it is unsustainable and if something does not give, the hospital dies from the bleeding.   HCAHPS “reviews” - what if patient thinks you’re a Motel 6 experience?   Meanwhile you have your head down trying to serve your list and the individual patients one by one.   On the micro level yes you are doing your job   On the macro level - if hospital is bleeding reimbursements, your job is at risk   I successfully avoid harping on the VA Governor who got into some well deserved controversy   Can we get rid of medical taboos (not related to the awful VA gov situation!)   Where do you want to go?   The wheel of life   Your health Your finances Your relationships Your goals Your personal time Your legacy   What do you want?   Awkward silence for you to think about it.   If you could change ONE thing about your team if you had more margin, what would it be?   Listen again and fill in the blanks   What’s your point Nathan?   Space - Silence = margin   We need margin to solve our problems and challenges   Data Points from the Medscape Physician Survey 2018   % of time spent on paperwork and admin % of time on patients   Physicians’ advice to other physicians for staying on schedule:   I don’t answer this because they are ridiculous, like: 1. “make sure your office doesn’t overbook you” (easy when we elect a politician who adds millions of patients to your workload)   Why I don’t care whether you believe healthcare is a right or privilege (hint - you paid the price to care for people)   2. “Take Fewer Breaks (if you currently take any breaks)”   What my dad told me that SHOCKED me about the right to go to the bathroom on demand.   You want to talk privilege vs human rights?   I personally believe that physicians should have the human right to be able to take a bathroom break whenever Nature calls, without shame or blowback.   More about the resources I’ve interviewed Drs. Ruthann Russo, Christopher Burton, Naim El Aswad on their respective burnout books.   You can access the edited transcripts of my interviews FREE on Kindle Unlimited ($9.99/mo) or for $17.99.   All the authors reject the way admin and the “experts” expert-splain to MDs to be “mindful” or do yoga etc… they point to the systemic nature of this and the gaslighting MDs get.   Any job where the pressure is growing, where things are unsustainable, where things are sloping downward, burnout will be inevitable.   And the more we focus on that, the more burnout we will have to fight.   Unsustainable reimbursements is robbing Peter to pay Paul.  We are all outraged by lack of transparent pricing, because we all have grandmothers who lost their savings because of an ambulance ride, or some similar awful story.   It’s unacceptable.    You know what else is unacceptable?    Going after symptoms, instead of the root problem Demonizing the people who are trying to make a bleeding system work another day for fewer people as best they can Whistleblowing and authoring books that don’t even have the word “reimbursement” or HCAHPS in the index.   I want to draw attention to the root cause. I want to turn things around - slowly, progressively, partially if necessary.     Did any of this resonate with you?   Would you please SHARE, APPLY and INVITE others to join us?  

  If you would rather skim and scan before you listen, I have created some short off-the-cuff notes for your convenience. Want more info? Go to iPracticeByDesign.com for more resources including FULL shownotes. To access Nathan’s physician-specific interview content on KindleUnlimited go to Nathan’s Amazon Author page here: www.amazon.com/author/nathaneckel ***** KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE ***** I have seen it all   What is PBD?   Why am I doing this?   What do I want to encourage?   I hope that you will choose to build MARGIN   We live in an increasingly busy, hostile, class conscious world.   You studied, borrowed, worked, took on liability because you believe in serving others.   Your political views do not matter to me whether you believe in healthcare as right or privilege   About the prior episodes   This podcast EP 1-400 was known as BeTheTalk   I interviewed TED/x speakers for a year daily   You might be able to get a few tips on connecting to patients from some of those episodes.   My father has just closed his rural family medicine clinic after 40 years, sending me into full midlife crisis.   They don’t make MDs like they used to?   I got to see my entire life the “good old days” of medicine   The secret - those days are still here   The ingredient =  margin   If I can help you become a sustainability thinker, you can begin to design your practice.   What do you call alternative medicine that works?   I support Traditional Medicine   Your highest value =  safety | science   I do not pot shot Traditional Medicine   I respect it.  I understand there is a protocol and I understand they need to be respected in order to influence the overall system.   I do challenge the traditions of traditional medicine.   TM is like air traffic control, daily flying landing and managing 1000s of safe flights each day, each hour.   If you want margin for your life - you will also need to ethically challenge the traditions of traditional medicine.   Traditions like: How you learned to interact with patients when rounding.   When I rollout these ideas to practicing physicians, I am surprised at the response.   My dad started writing down ideas in his own practice.   Stay tuned for resources and workshops that can literally walk you through these ideas.   Maybe you have colleagues, boss, NPs, others who need margin also   The good news: you are scaling yourself The bad news: you are scaling yourself in the WRONG DIRECTION   Why does the most learned, most expensive person (you) have to repeat yourself and say the same conversation with different patients many times weekly, even daily.   Do you ever feel like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day?   Plug in and we will connect you to resources & tools.   Tools that will calculate the time you’re spending weekly and even annually what you’re spending on a given Single Use Conversation.   My bias is with medicine Been married to medicine for over a decade.   Funny backstory We are dating in residency In fellowship my wife was in same school as my dad attended for med school.   So she looks up my dad in the yearbook   She saw something else (you need to listen to hear this!!!)   So I never felt like I needed to do or wanted medicine.   I became a performing artist instead Retired early and became a sustainability designer and adjunct professor of a graduate program.   You can get the margin you need to extinguish burnout (coming soon - future episode).   Are you burned out?  I do care, even though I focus on margin.   I saw the sacrifices. I still do.   If you are struggling with BO reachout to me.  I will listen to you.   I am the author of Open Source Instructional Design - Successfully Mentoring SMEs   This was about empowering experts to understand and apply the basics of design thinking for better training and content.   Avatars for this podcast - physician,  clinic owner/partner, physician or other executives   I care about reimbursement situation   I care about educating and empowering patients and voters   I care about transparent pricing (as does everyone) - and I also understand that’s the only option besides closing the hospital for underpayment.   Maybe you hear my heart for what you’re doing. Maybe you hear some hope for your future.   With intentionality - you WILL make a way.   You have done amazing things.   There will be a point in this podcast where you probably WONT like what I have to say.   I will also talk about reimbursements.   You say “I don’t care about HCAHPS/ reimbursements”   My perspective = sustainability perspective = it IS your problem   To fix healthcare and it’s toxic culture, we have to work together We have to educate patients We have to educate voters We have to empower objective reporting / auditing instead of subjective reviewing   Until we fix at the source, this will just band aid.   You know certain ailments need much deeper work than a bandaid You know there’s a recuperation period needed for that deeper work.   Did any of this resonate with you?   Would you please SHARE, APPLY and INVITE others to join us?    

EP401 - Get Ready for Practice By Design with Nathan Eckel   If you would rather skim and scan before you listen, I have created some short off-the-cuff notes for your convenience.   Want more info? Go to iPracticeByDesign.com for more resources. To access Nathan’s physician-specific interview content on KindleUnlimited go to Nathan’s Amazon Author page here: www.amazon.com/author/nathaneckel ***** KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE Ultimately - For real change to happen in healthcare, someone needs to say some unpopular things that no one will like.   Here are a few of those unpopular things, before you invest your time!   1. physicians and administrators need to work together. 2. we need to treat causes not symptoms 3. the whistleblowing insiders talking about the lack of price transparency and other symptoms need to dig deeper and provide solutions that address the root causes of why those issues exist in the first place 4. Politicians must be held accountable for irresponsible promises.   About this podcast   From 401 onward I am changing this podcast to Practice By Design I am born/married to medicine Do you care about making healthcare sustainable? Healthcare is bleeding to death   WHO it’s for - MDs, Partner/Owners, Executives, and Patients/Voters   WHY it is - Because healthcare is bleeding to death, and everyone downstream from increasingly disliked hospital executives on down are feeling the pinch   What it is NOT - this is NOT a burnout podcast.  This is NOT a place where we blame and shame and attribute ill.  This is NOT a place to highlight symptoms.   What it IS - Nathan Eckel is a designer NOT a doctor, although he’s seen it his entire life as a son and a spouse of medicine. Design and sustainability thinking has a lot to offer the unsustainable world of american healthcare.   Things are so unsustainable economically, relationally, politically, that an outside perspective from a designer not a doctor might bring clarity and perspective.    I believe that there are design centered opportunities to partially mitigate and slow the bleeding of healthcare.    For patient facing physicians willing to rethink their patient interactions, they could easily save 100 hours this year.   For executives trying to breakeven on reimbursements, they could rethink ways to educate, empower, and partner with patients and voters in their community for sustainable, objective reporting instead of subjective HCAHPS reviewing.   Ultimately - For real change to happen, someone needs to say some unpopular things that no one will like.   Here are a few of those unpopular things, before you invest your time!   1. physicians and administrators need to work together. 2. we need to treat causes not symptoms 3. the whistleblowing insiders talking about the lack of price transparency and other symptoms need to dig deeper and provide solutions that address the root causes of why those issues exist in the first place 4. Politicians must be held accountable for irresponsible promises. Of the four groups of healthcare - the Patients, Physician/Providers, People in Charge, and Politicians, it is the politicians who need to be accountable to the patients, physician providers and people in charge.  They make money by making promises at patient expense, to the detriment of physician/providers’ livelihoods, family relationships and personal emotional relational and spiritual health.  Not all promises are probable or even possible.  Making irresponsible promises that cannot be fulfilled is crueler than having the restraint to avoid making popular irresponsible promises.   MISSION It is my hope that by giving MDs the opportunity to get the margin that comes by practicing by design (not default) many will learn the language of the boardroom and take a role in governance and common-sense policymaking so that we can have sustainable expectations and fulfillment of healthcare we need. Including the transparent pricing that everyone wants.   Did this resonate with you? Would you please SHARE, APPLY and INVITE others to join us?

On this AHA Advancing Health podcast, Nancy Foster, AHA vice president of quality and safety policy, moderates a discussion on the need for an update to the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey. Also joining the conversation are AHA’s Akin Demehin, director of policy, and Caitlin Gillooley, senior associate director for behavior health and quality policy.

In this episode of the IJGC podcast, Editor-in-Chief Dr. Pedro Ramirez, is joined by Dr. Joe Dottino from the MD Anderson Cancer Center to talk about HCAHPS scores and gynecologic oncology outcomes. Dr. Joseph Dottino is in his final year of fellowship in gynecologic oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. His research interests include quality and safety in cancer care and cost-effectiveness in gynecologic oncology.

Bio: Brian Lee, CSP, is one of North America’s leading experts in the field of World-Class patient experience, staff engagement and culture change. He is a recognized author on HCAHPS improvement and Value-Based Purchasing. Brian is known for his passion and enthusiasm in delivering inspirational keynote presentations that create impact and bring transformation to healthcare organizations. This internationally acclaimed and bestselling author has been featured as the keynote speaker at conferences in more than 14 countries. He travels 150,000 miles every year and has spoken in every state and province in North America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode, Chip sits down with Bill McInturff to discuss the results of his demonstration he did with Micah Roberts that focused on recasting and improving the HCAHPS (the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) patient experience survey. The report, concluded that even though the HCAHPS is a well-designed, well-administered survey, it could be strengthened to add items important to patients. The demonstration also added an online delivery mode and found that it increases response rates.

This week in the news I cover the UHS settlement with the DOJ, the Senate advancing a drug pricing bill, How Ascension got 100,000 additional visits this year with help from online scheduling, Major hospital groups recommend changes to HCAHPS survey, and an announcement from a company called Nanowear about a remote patient monitoring device. As always, I'll relate these stories to our CMIO world.

A patient’s health care experience at a hospital is considered one indicator of quality of care. Since 2008, those experiences have been captured and publicly reported at a national level via the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey. However, it hasn’t been reviewed since its creation more than a decade ago. We were hearing anecdotally that response rates were falling and some of the questions weren’t as relevant as they used to be. So we joined with several other major hospital organizations to investigate. On the episode, Chip and Dr. Claudia Salzberg, FAH’s VP of Quality, discuss our just released study examining the HCAHPS survey from the perspective of Patient Experience Leaders.

Subscribe: itunes | Email | | Stitcher | RadioPlayer ‘This call may be recorded to ensure quality control.’ We’ve all heard the recorded message when we call our bank or service provider But, is this the best way to capture patient satisfaction with their healthcare visit experience? Are you looking for options to gauge patient satisfaction with the patients’ interactions with your office staff during phone calls and their entire visit? There are other options that require less technology, easier to implement, respects privacy, provides a more meaning constructive, helpful, feedback for your clinic team and engages your patients to improve their satisfaction. I reached out to Brian Lee from Custom Learning Systems about his suggestions on how to explore patient satisfaction. Listen to the podcast to hear his key tips! CareSay App from Everyone’s A Caregiver Easily measure the patient's experience and give them an opportunity for feedback so that you can improve patient satisfaction and patient care in your healthcare practice. Make sure to check out this new app from Brian and Everyone’s a Caregiver! Click on the image below   In This Episode In this 16 minute episode, Brian Lee, CEO of Everyone's a Caregiver Learning Systems, we discuss options for the healthcare provider and business owner to easily measure the patient's experience and give them an opportunity for feedback so that you can improve patient satisfaction and patient care in your healthcare practice. Brian shares his key tips including Options to create a patient experience survey (including CGCAPS). New tools that empowers the patient to provide clinics with feedback about their experience. Join me for the interview with Brian Lee, How To Capture Patient Satisfaction With CareSay Reviews. Meet Brian Lee, CEO, Everyone's a Caregiver Learning Systems Brian Lee, CSP, is one of North America’s leading experts in the field of World-Class patient experience, staff engagement and culture change. He is recognized author on HCAHPS improvement and Value-Based Purchasing. Brian has been a passionate lifelong student of customer service and its effect on both organizational effectiveness and staff retention. He educates his audiences about the “how-to’s” of developing patient, staff, and physician loyalty. He models how to inspire hope and commitment and to bring a renewed passion for care-giving. For two consecutive years Brian has been evaluated by the International Customer Service Association Conference as the number-one-rated Customer Service Expert Speaker in the World. Brian Lee is the Chief Executive Officer of  Everyone's a Caregiver Learning Systems, a leading provider of culture-change and training solutions to healthcare organizations across North America. He is also the founder of the Healthcare Service Excellence conference. In the past 30 years in business, Brian and his team have worked closely with healthcare organizations on several continents to achieve breakthrough results in improving the Patient Experience and Staff Engagement. In the fall of 2018, Brian Lee and Bruce Lee invited Jean L. Eaton to become a faculty member of Custom Learning Solutions and their new initiative to assist community clinics to empower community clinics to deliver a 5 star patient experience. Their new on-line program, Patient Centered Clinic, launches in February 2019. Find out more about Brian Lee: www.EveryonesACaregiver.com Twitter: @every1care LinkedIn: Brian Lee CSP Show Notes You can advance the audio to these time markers: 00:00 Q: How to Capture Patient Satisfaction 00:47 Speaking with Brian Lee, CEO, Everyone’s a Caregiver 04:07 Privacy considerations 05:12 Patient Feedback Options 05:30 Adopt a Patients Experience Measurement – CGCAPS Patient Centered Clinic Modules Go to https://InformationManagers.ca/Likes-EAC to unlock the sample modules for the Patient Centered Clinic! 06:50 Care Say App – Deliver a 5 Star Experience! https://informationmanagers.ca/likes-CareSay 14:13 Pilot the Care Say App! Download the app for free – at your app store now for IOS and Android. To learn more about the pilot, call Dorian at 403-270-5806. Or, send her an email at Dorian [at] EveryonesACaregiver.com. No obligation just check it out! Do This Now Members of Practice Management Success can access the video of this episode and the resources here. If you are not a member of Practice Management Success, yet—what are you waiting for? Click here and register now! With your membership to Practice Management Success, you will get great tips, tools, templates, and training that you can use right away to help you start, grow, or improve your healthcare practice. Rate and Review the Podcast I am honoured that you choose to spend your time with me today. Thank you for the opportunity to share my obsession about privacy, confidentiality and security with you! Reviews for the podcast on whatever platform that you use is greatly appreciated! When you provide your honest feedback it helps other people just like you find content that may help them, too.  If you received value from this episode, please take a moment and leave your honest rating and review. Jean, Your Practical Privacy Coach and Practice Management Mentor

After decades of investment in digital systems of record, patients are beginning to navigate healthcare on their PCs and mobile devices. Providers have created great, consumer-grade technology for a better patient experience — a digital “superhighway” for healthcare. But patient adoption of these systems is still low. Healthcare is complex, there’s no way around that, but poor adoption rates indicate that leaders may have overestimated what consumers are willing to put up with. Technology adoption is never easy, but there may be hope. In this episode of Digital Conversations, Greg Johnsen and Greg Kefer discuss the rise of conversational technology that engages through language instead of menus and rigid workflows to deliver intuitive, consumer experiences at scale. Leveraging the patient digital information stored in EHR and CRM systems of record puts patients on a personalized, high-value path to high satisfaction and efficiency.

After decades of investment in digital systems of record, patients are beginning to navigate healthcare on their PCs and mobile devices. Providers have created great, consumer-grade technology for a better patient experience — a digital “superhighway” for healthcare. But patient adoption of these systems is still low. Healthcare is complex, there’s no way around that, but poor adoption rates indicate that leaders may have overestimated what consumers are willing to put up with. Technology adoption is never easy, but there may be hope. In this episode of Digital Conversations, Greg Johnsen and Greg Kefer discuss the rise of conversational technology that engages through language instead of menus and rigid workflows to deliver intuitive, consumer experiences at scale. Leveraging the patient digital information stored in EHR and CRM systems of record puts patients on a personalized, high-value path to high satisfaction and efficiency.

Since 1995, the annual Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) surveys have been used to measure patient experiences in Healthcare. Results are also used to determine Medicare reimbursements for providers. With the surveys being administered as much as 90 days after a visit, utilizing manual approaches (mail, phone, email), survey response rates are on the decline. This has introduced an element of non-response bias, according to a study published in the journal Patient Experience. In addition to all of this, the consumer dimension is evolving rapidly in healthcare.   Justin Mardjuki joined Greg Kefer in the Digital Conversations studio to discuss the shifting dynamics of surveys, specifically in the hospital environment, where HCAHPS scores can influence significant financial rewards or penalties. New mobile technology has the ability to measure sentiment in real time, as care is being delivered. Consumers are becoming fluent in providing peer reviews on platforms like Amazon, Uber, and Yelp, and maybe the time has come to rethink the CHAPS survey model.

Since 1995, the annual Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) surveys have been used to measure patient experiences in Healthcare. Results are also used to determine Medicare reimbursements for providers. With the surveys being administered as much as 90 days after a visit, utilizing manual approaches (mail, phone, email), survey response rates are on the decline. This has introduced an element of non-response bias, according to a study published in the journal Patient Experience. In addition to all of this, the consumer dimension is evolving rapidly in healthcare.   Justin Mardjuki joined Greg Kefer in the Digital Conversations studio to discuss the shifting dynamics of surveys, specifically in the hospital environment, where HCAHPS scores can influence significant financial rewards or penalties. New mobile technology has the ability to measure sentiment in real time, as care is being delivered. Consumers are becoming fluent in providing peer reviews on platforms like Amazon, Uber, and Yelp, and maybe the time has come to rethink the CHAPS survey model.

Reaching out to patients to make sure they adhere to things like treatment plans and clinical trials is often the domain of the call center. Frequently, the outbound interaction is a heavily scripted, redundant workflow. What happens when a chunk of these outbound calls are shifted to a conversational chatbot that uses text messaging to interact, remind, and collect feedback? In this episode of Digital Conversations, Greg Kefer and Jacob Heitler talk about a different kind of call center — one that uses chatbots to engage patients in the medium they prefer — mobile texting. The combination of high scale and content precision is a win-win, driving call center efficiency while simultaneously delivering a better patient experience.

Reaching out to patients to make sure they adhere to things like treatment plans and clinical trials is often the domain of the call center. Frequently, the outbound interaction is a heavily scripted, redundant workflow. What happens when a chunk of these outbound calls are shifted to a conversational chatbot that uses text messaging to interact, remind, and collect feedback? In this episode of Digital Conversations, Greg Kefer and Jacob Heitler talk about a different kind of call center — one that uses chatbots to engage patients in the medium they prefer — mobile texting. The combination of high scale and content precision is a win-win, driving call center efficiency while simultaneously delivering a better patient experience.

Episode 4 of the Chief Complaint podcast is here! Today LJ and Zach bring you an update from the New York State Nurses Association labor dispute, talk about HCAHPS surveys, and discuss the medication error at Vanderbilt in 2017 and its ramifications. If you'd like to ask a question that we can answer on the air, or just get in touch, send us an email at ChiefComplaintdPod@gmail.com, or tweet us @ChiefPod.NYSNA update: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/10/nyregion/nurses-strike-nyc.htmlHCAHPS surveys: https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-Patient-Assessment-Instruments/HospitalQualityInits/HospitalHCAHPS.htmlVanderbilt nurse: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/04/10/709971677/when-a-nurse-is-prosecuted-for-a-fatal-medical-mistake-does-it-make-medicine-safMusic:You're There by The Mini VandalsAll Night by Ikson

Hospitals are investing heavily in marketing campaigns to attract new patients, yet every day countless “warm leads”  walk out of the front door, never to be heard from again. At the same time, huge investments are being made to improve the patient experience through better communications and engagement. This is why referral management represents a massive value opportunity. Jacob Heitler joined Greg Kefer in the Digital Conversations studio to discuss how innovators are addressing Referral Management. Conversational chatbots that start the engagement process before a patient leaves the building are helping them follow through on their discharge instructions and get proper care. This in turn reduces readmissions and builds a tight, long-term patient-provider relationship.

Hospitals are investing heavily in marketing campaigns to attract new patients, yet every day countless “warm leads”  walk out of the front door, never to be heard from again. At the same time, huge investments are being made to improve the patient experience through better communications and engagement. This is why referral management represents a massive value opportunity. Jacob Heitler joined Greg Kefer in the Digital Conversations studio to discuss how innovators are addressing Referral Management. Conversational chatbots that start the engagement process before a patient leaves the building are helping them follow through on their discharge instructions and get proper care. This in turn reduces readmissions and builds a tight, long-term patient-provider relationship.

Nicole Defenbaugh, PhD discusses verbal and non-verbal tips for listening with empathy and how empathic listening improves outcomes for the patient and reduces errors, and improves HCAHPS scores and the clinicians' well being. Find out when silence is golden.

One of the most difficult questions that clinic managers ask me is if I have any tips to help them work with members of their team who know their job – but aren’t as friendly, or empathetic or engaging with their patients as they would like. Teaching someone how to build a courteous and respectful relationship with your patients is kind of awkward, isn’t it? But, it is so vitally important that patients feel valued, respected, and safe when they come to their healthcare practice. And it is just as important to healthcare business that we provide courteous service, clear communication and safe practices in an efficient and effective manner. Patient engagement and patient satisfaction is a key criteria to good health outcomes and a healthy business model. But, how do you get started to implement a patient satisfaction program? How can you teach your employees to demonstrate respect and open communication with patients and their families? Patient Centered Clinics from Everyone’s a Caregiver Make sure to check out this new on-line education from Brian and Everyone's a Caregiver! Click on the image below: In This Episode In this 30 minute webinar, Brian Lee, CEO of Everyone's a Caregiver Learning Systems, will discuss options for the healthcare provider and business owner to easily deliver training to your healthcare team so that you can improve patient satisfaction and patient care in your healthcare practice. What is the Patient Centered Clinic? What is the Return on Investment (ROI) when you provide your providers and support team with education in patient engagement? Opportunities of digital learning systems How can healthcare clinics provide consistent, meaningful education to their teams and still get their day-to-day tasks done? Join me for the interview with Brian Lee, How Improved Patient Satisfaction Saves You Time And Money! Meet Brian Lee, CEO, Everyone's a Caregiver Learning Systems Brian Lee, CSP, is one of North America’s leading experts in the field of World-Class patient experience, staff engagement and culture change. He is recognized author on HCAHPS improvement and Value-Based Purchasing. Brian has been a passionate lifelong student of customer service and its effect on both organizational effectiveness and staff retention. He educates his audiences about the “how-to’s” of developing patient, staff, and physician loyalty. He models how to inspire hope and commitment and to bring a renewed passion for care-giving. For two consecutive years Brian has been evaluated by the International Customer Service Association Conference as the number-one-rated Customer Service Expert Speaker in the World. Brian Lee is the Chief Executive Officer of  Everyone's a Caregiver Learning Systems, a leading provider of culture-change and training solutions to healthcare organizations across North America. He is also the founder of the Healthcare Service Excellence conference. In the past 30 years in business, Brian and his team have worked closely with healthcare organizations on several continents to achieve breakthrough results in improving the Patient Experience and Staff Engagement. In the fall of 2018, Brian Lee and Bruce Lee invited Jean L. Eaton to become a faculty member of Custom Learning Solutions and their new initiative to assist community clinics to empower community clinics to deliver a 5 star patient experience. Their new on-line program, Patient Centered Clinic, launches in February 2019. Find out more about Brian Lee: www.EveryonesACaregiver.com Twitter: @every1care LinkedIn: Brian Lee CSP Show Notes Click the >> arrow to play the podcast. You can advance to the time marks. 01:35  Meet Brian Lee, CSP, CEO Everyone’s A Caregiver 06:56  Pink Elephant in the Room 07:21  Brian Lee’s #1 Tip 09:35  What is the Patient Centered Clinic? 11:30  What Does It Look Like to the Patient? 13:05  What Does It Look Like to Staff? 14:19  Educate Employees 15:29  What is Education? 16:30  Why is This a Critical Topic for Healthcare Practitioners? 19:19  What Are the Options to Improve Patient Satisfaction? 20:39  Return on Investment 24:16  Introducing Everyone's A Caregiver App 24:45  Patient Centered Clinic 26:32  DO IT Recommendations 30:00  Who is the Patient Centered Clinic For? 30:28  Patient Centered Clinic Modules 35:28  Get Started With Patient Centered Clinic!   Do This Now! Go to https://InformationManagers.ca/Likes-EAC to unlock the sample modules for the Patient Centered Clinic! Rate and Review the Podcast I am honoured that you choose to spend your time with me today. Thank you for the opportunity to share my obsession about privacy, confidentiality and security with you! Reviews for the podcast on whatever platform that you use is greatly appreciated! When you provide your honest feedback it helps other people just like you find content that may help them, too.  If you received value from this episode, please take a moment and leave your honest rating and review. Jean, Your Practical Privacy Coach and Practice Management Mentor

Takiya Reavis-Benjamin, MBA, talks about how a medication communication program improved patient satisfaction scores.

Cedars-Sinai Chief Patient Experience Officer, Alan Dubovsky, MBA, improved patient scores dramatically by sharing patients' narratives. He changed the dialogue with physicians by communicating what patients want to focus on. The narrative is the heart of data, and the data and the narrative together provide a richer account of the patient experience.

This episode is part of our in-depth coverage of the Healthcare Infection Transmission Systems Consortium (HITS) 2018 conference in Nashville, TN that took place September 18-20th. Check out all our HITS 2018 episodes here, and look for more throughout the month of October. The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) measures a patient's satisfaction with the quality of their care during their stay at the hospital. It measures things like staff communication and attentiveness, discharge information, food service, and the hospital environment. These are important measures and every hospital should strive for excellence in each of them (we talked about this in our last episode). However, and as is often the case in healthcare, the HCAHPS survey can have unintended consequences. Typically, the Environmental Services Department (EVS) is given responsibility for the hospital environment portion of the score. And this too makes sense. They're the ones cleaning the rooms, emptying the trash, and ensuring that the patient has a comfortable environment to heal in. However, the most important responsibility for EVS is to ensure the environment is safe and HCAHPS does nothing to measure that. There is no measure that grades the EVS staff on how well they prevent the spread of pathogens through the hospital. This becomes a problem when pressures mount to improve HCAHPS scores. It creates an environment where EVS staff are forced to focus on the perception issues, and with shrinking staff sizes, it often comes at the expense of doing their most important work. On this episode, we talk with Christine Greene, MPH, Ph.D., Principal Research Investigator at NSF International and President of HITS and Maurits Hughes, Director of Logistics and Support Services at Michigan Medicine about how to deal with the patient satisfaction vs. patient safety conundrum. It's a challenge that requires proper education for staff and leadership about the importance of EVS' role in the hospital and the alignment of EVS and other critical teams like Infection Control. It also requires a new attitude towards EVS staff. They aren't just custodians or housekeepers... they are Infection Prevention Technicians. We can do a lot for patients by elevating the stature of and support for the EVS team. HCAHPS and the Patient Safety vs. Patient Satisfaction Conundrum:  1:46 Measuring Environmental Services (EVS) with HCAHPS: What sounds good on paper doesn't always work in practice. 2:40 The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) measures a patient's satisfaction with the quality of their care during their stay at the hospital. The problem with tying patient perception of cleanliness to reimbursement is that it creates the conundrum of patient satisfaction vs patient safety. Contamination removal does not increase patient satisfaction. 4:55 Environmental Services (EVS) at Michigan Health are closely aligned with Infection Prevention (IP). In the 30 minutes a day EVS is in a patient room, staff must make the room look clean, remove the clutter of medical supplies, ensure trash doesn't get too full, all while trying to stay as quiet as possible to improve HCAHPS scores. 6:20 HCAHPS has nothing to do with patient safety. It sounds good on paper but doesn't really measure if the patient is actually safe. 7:30 EVS must partner with IP and use tools to help them measure if the staff is cleaning to necessary levels. Cut-backs on staff and resources mean each staff member is being expected to do more in a given day. The culture of cleaning excellence is compromised by not respecting the folks who do the cleaning. If these frontline employees are, "the tip of the spear against pathogens" how do we make sure they're treated, compensated, trained and supplied like it? 10:20 Remind employees that they are Infection Prevention Technicians (as opposed to custodians or housekeepers) and their role is to prevent the spread of infections and save lives. All services are hospital services. 12:22 The industry has not made investments in training for EVS. Getting the lab and IP staff to help educate the C-Suite would be huge. 13:20 How do you quantify the value that EVS brings to the organization? Michigan Health uses ATP testing, microbial swab testing, gel marking and special procedures in ED and other high priority areas to track EVS effectiveness. We share the results with leadership. 14:45 A "Bundled" approach to accountability. EVS, IP, and nursing staff are all responsible for taking action if a patient has an infection. Tests that determine if a surface has been wiped vs. decontaminated can help you better prioritize which processes need improvement. 17:30 A Quality Assurance program that uses the latest technology can help validate who infection control committees should focus on. 19:30 How do you get people to see EVS as a protector of ROI and prioritize cleaning at the level needed? 22:50 HCAHPS doesn't align with the goals of infection prevention and that's a huge disservice to patient safety. It leads to EVS focusing on the perception of cleanliness and quiet first, and safety second. The smell of the chemicals might be bad but we're not cleaning a fast-food restaurant, we're cleaning to save lives. To improve HCAHPS scores we need adequate levels of staff, training of staff, access to facilities and a team approach to preparing patients for a safe environment. 25:00 This issue won't manifest itself immediately and requires a long-term strategic prioritization or eventually it will prevent you from doing other things you're trying to accomplish. On the HITS Consortium and HITS Conference: “I think change will occur by getting more EVS and IP leaders involved in this sort of initiative but it is going to require us to change the paradigm and change the model of how EVS is perceived and managed throughout the healthcare facilities.” - Maurits Hughes ... This episode was recorded on site at the HITS 2018 conference in Nashville, TN. Check out all our HITS 2018 episodes here, and look for more throughout the month of October. Thank you to HITS, Christine Greene of NSF International, Kelly Reynolds of the University of Arizona and Michael Diamond of The Infection Prevention Strategy for working with us on this conference coverage. It was a great event, in a great city, attended by true heroes of Infection Prevention and Control from all over the world. Be sure to check out the next HITS conference in August 2019 in Buffalo, NY! ... About The HITS 2018 Conference:  The HITS 2018 Conference was held on September 18-20th in Nashville, TN.   HITS 2018 offers a unique forum for the exchange of knowledge and experience in the prevention of healthcare-associated infections and promoting “hospital health”.  The 2018 HITS “Catalyst for Change” Conference is a working conference, bringing together research scientists, industry and healthcare professionals for an interdisciplinary and dynamic approach. We work together to understand and prevent the transmission of pathogens throughout the hospital facility through a collaborative effort that includes engaging in applied research.  The conference is accredited as a provider for continuing education units (CEUs) through National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) and National Board of Public Health Examiners (NBPHE). Join us for this one-of-a-kind, multimodal event where researchers and experts from across disciplines will work toward identifying research gaps and applying data-driven methods in the field. Meet, greet and share ideas with the individuals and organizations who are growing and sustaining the industry as we explore creative and innovative solutions to this global problem. The full 2018 schedule can be found at https://hitsconsortium.org/2018-nashville/2018-schedule/ The HITS organizing committee has assembled world experts and key opinion leaders to share their knowledge and expertise. We host a research poster session to hear from those in healthcare about the research being conducted in their facilities.  We also incorporate workshop breakout sessions each day in order to provide a unique forum through which everyone can interact and be innovative as we work to identify potential solutions to key barriers and develop an agenda for change moving forward into the next year.  After the conference, members have the opportunity to become involved in one of the many research workgroups conducting research around pathogen transmission in healthcare. Check out highlights from the HITS 2017 conference: https://hitsconsortium.org/2017-hits-highlight-reel/ For media inquiries:  https://hitsconsortium.org/media/ For more information, please visit the HITS Consortium website: https://hitsconsortium.org/ or email us: info@HITSconsortium.org Checkout our conference preview episode: HITS 2018 A Catalyst for Change in Infection Control - Episode 67 w/ Dr. Christine Greene and Dr. Kelly Reynolds. ... About Christine Greene, MPH, PhD:  Principal Research Investigator at NSF International Dr. Greene is the Principal Research Investigator for the Sanitation and Contamination Control unit of the Applied Research Center at NSF International.  She has over 10 years of experience in epidemiological and laboratory research.   She holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Health Sciences and an MPH in Hospital and Molecular Epidemiology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her academic research focus has been on healthcare pathogen transmission, pathogen environmental survival, hand hygiene, disinfection and biofilms which has led to multiple publications. At NSF International, Dr. Greene has been making strides to improve public health in the areas of infectious disease prevention and control in clinical, dental and community settings. Her work serves to improve the accuracy of environmental mediated infectious disease transmission modeling, strengthens current guidelines to control healthcare-associated infections and provides new insights that will stimulate innovative approaches to reduce the risk of biofilm-related infections, pathogen transmission and curtail the environmental persistence and transmission of infectious agents. Dr. Greene is a member of the NSF International 444 Joint Committee Standard – Prevention of Injury and Disease Associated with Building Water Systems and serves on the ISO TC 304 working group 3 as the project leader for the healthcare hand hygiene performance and compliance standard.  She serves as a board member for The Infection Prevention Strategy.  Dr. Greene is a co-founder of the Healthcare Infection Transmission Systems (HITS) Consortium – an organization that strives to break down silos in healthcare using a cross-disciplinary, systems approach to addressing the pressing issues around infection control. Email at cgreene@nsf.org ... About Maurits Hughes:  Maurits Hughes is the Director of Logistics and Support Services at Michigan Medicine. He's a dedicated executive with over 20 years of management experience in clinical and non-clinical environments.  Maurits Hughes on LinkedIn ... About the Healthcare Infection Transmission Systems (HITS) Consortium:  The Healthcare Infection Transmission System Consortium is a not-for-profit organization serving the field of infection control and prevention. HITS takes a holistic perspective to targeting healthcare associated infections by including multiple disciplines in the conversation, including infection prevention, environmental services, construction and renovation, facilities management and engineering along with research scientists and industry experts. HITS focuses on the major avenues for pathogen transmission in hospitals:  hands, surfaces, water and air.  HITS provides the necessary, cross-disciplinary platform to share knowledge and engage in research regarding the prevention of healthcare-associated infections and promotion of overall hospital health. @HITSConsortium on Twitter HITS Consortium on LinkedIn ... Related and/or Mentioned on the Show:  The Patient Hot Zone w/ Darrel Hicks Check out all the #HCBiz Show! Infection Prevention and Control coverage. ... Subscribe to Weekly Updates If you like what we're doing here, then please consider signing up for our weekly newsletter. You'll get one email from me each week detailing: New podcast episodes and blog posts. Content or ideas that I've found valuable in the past week. Insider info about the show like stats, upcoming episodes and future plans that I won't put anywhere else. Plain text and straight from the heart :) No SPAM or fancy graphics and you can unsubscribe with a single click anytime. ... The #HCBiz Show! is produced by Glide Health IT, LLC in partnership with Netspective Media. Music by StudioEtar

This episode is part of our in-depth coverage of the Healthcare Infection Transmission Systems Consortium (HITS) 2018 conference in Nashville, TN that took place September 18-20th. Check out all our HITS 2018 episodes here, and look for more throughout the month of October. There are plenty of reasons to be concerned with air quality in the hospital environment. The obvious ones are related to patient safety, but as we move toward a more consumer-directed healthcare system and as CMS continues to incentivize a positive patient experience through HCAHPS surveys (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) and other programs, it's important to address patient perception too. On this episode, we're talking clean air and patient satisfaction with Samantha Kitchen, Director at Radic8 Ltd. Sammy explains how a well-placed air quality system can eliminate air contaminants, alleviate foul smells that leave a bad impression, and give patients peace of mind. A few highlights from our conversation with Radic8:  After becoming the gold standard for air sterilization in Canada, Radic8 is ready to bring us new tech from the UK that can reduce airborne viruses by 99.9999%. The primary challenge is still about educating hospitals. The message: you can control what you touch but can't control what you breathe. Radic8 is wall-mounted, circulating sterilized air within the room. This allows you to maintain air quality standards with no need to heat, cool or treat the air, bringing HVAC costs down. Radic8 helps with HCAHPS and patient satisfaction scores. The reduction in strange smells is huge for helping patients feel like they're in a clean environment. Home units are available too. With Hextio, Radic8 used the same hospital virus-killing technology and shrunk it into a compact, 12-inch unit that provides a direct flow of clean air to your child, workplace, or in a hotel. It's great to have large units in the hospital but people need this everywhere. Radic8.com looking for partners in the US ... This episode was recorded on site at the HITS 2018 conference in Nashville, TN. Check out all our HITS 2018 episodes here, and look for more throughout the month of October. Thank you to HITS, Christine Greene of NSF International, Kelly Reynolds of the University of Arizona and Michael Diamond of The Infection Prevention Strategy for working with us on this conference coverage. It was a great event, in a great city, attended by true heroes of Infection Prevention and Control from all over the world. Be sure to check out the next HITS conference in August 2019 in Buffalo, NY! ... About The HITS 2018 Conference:  The HITS 2018 Conference was held on September 18-20th in Nashville, TN.   HITS 2018 offers a unique forum for the exchange of knowledge and experience in the prevention of healthcare-associated infections and promoting “hospital health”.  The 2018 HITS “Catalyst for Change” Conference is a working conference, bringing together research scientists, industry and healthcare professionals for an interdisciplinary and dynamic approach. We work together to understand and prevent the transmission of pathogens throughout the hospital facility through a collaborative effort that includes engaging in applied research.  The conference is accredited as a provider for continuing education units (CEUs) through National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) and National Board of Public Health Examiners (NBPHE). Join us for this one-of-a-kind, multimodal event where researchers and experts from across disciplines will work toward identifying research gaps and applying data-driven methods in the field. Meet, greet and share ideas with the individuals and organizations who are growing and sustaining the industry as we explore creative and innovative solutions to this global problem. The full 2018 schedule can be found at https://hitsconsortium.org/2018-nashville/2018-schedule/ The HITS organizing committee has assembled world experts and key opinion leaders to share their knowledge and expertise. We host a research poster session to hear from those in healthcare about the research being conducted in their facilities.  We also incorporate workshop breakout sessions each day in order to provide a unique forum through which everyone can interact and be innovative as we work to identify potential solutions to key barriers and develop an agenda for change moving forward into the next year.  After the conference, members have the opportunity to become involved in one of the many research workgroups conducting research around pathogen transmission in healthcare. Check out highlights from the HITS 2017 conference: https://hitsconsortium.org/2017-hits-highlight-reel/ For media inquiries:  https://hitsconsortium.org/media/ For more information, please visit the HITS Consortium website: https://hitsconsortium.org/ or email us: info@HITSconsortium.org Checkout our conference preview episode: HITS 2018 A Catalyst for Change in Infection Control - Episode 67 w/ Dr. Christine Greene and Dr. Kelly Reynolds. ... About Samantha Kitchen:  Experienced Company Director with a demonstrated history of working in the environmental services industry. Strong business development professional skilled in Customer Service, Strategic Planning, Business Development, Marketing Strategy, and Public Speaking. Samantha Kitchen on LinkedIn ... About Radic8:  Radic8 is an independent air purification company based in the UK. With a strong belief that everybody has the right to clean air, Radic8 are passionate about innovating and distributing the very best technology in their field. The Infection Prevention Strategy named Radic8's Viruskiller Technology as one of its Top Innovations of the Year: 2018. Radic8 Website Hextio ... Related and/or Mentioned on the Show:  Check out all the #HCBiz Show! Infection Prevention and Control coverage. ... Subscribe to Weekly Updates:  If you like what we're doing here, then please consider signing up for our weekly newsletter. You'll get one email from me each week detailing: New podcast episodes and blog posts. Content or ideas that I've found valuable in the past week. Insider info about the show like stats, upcoming episodes and future plans that I won't put anywhere else. Plain text and straight from the heart :) No SPAM or fancy graphics and you can unsubscribe with a single click anytime. ... The #HCBiz Show! is produced by Glide Health IT, LLC in partnership with Netspective Media. Music by StudioEtar

Date: August 9, 2018   Featuring: Barbara Balik, RN, EdD, Co-Founder, Aefina Partners, and Senior Faculty, Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Kris White, MBA, RN, Co-Founder, Aefina Partners, and Faculty, IHI Helen Macfie, PharmD, FABC, Chief Transformation Officer, MemorialCare   Most hospitals are understandably preoccupied with patient experience scores. High-performing organizations worry when their scores plateau, and those with mediocre scores wonder why their attention to better "customer service" hasn't improved the numbers. Up and down the rankings, there's discussion about patients as unreliable informants, flawed survey instruments, low survey response rates, and institutions being judged unfairly by these scores.   A decade into publicly reported patient experience data for US hospitals (most notably with HCAHPS​), experts say that health systems are working on patient experience too much in isolation, separate from other organizational strategic aims. If you're tired of the same old discussion about patient experience scores, we hope you'll listen the new ideas and best practices presented on the August 9 WIHI: Connecting Patient Experience to Culture and Strategic Aims.  

Today, there are a myriad of ways that patients can share their experiences with hospitals and health systems online. In this episode, hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer focus on two systems: Yelp and HCAHPS and discuss their differences, and how organizations should view both in the larger scheme of measuring patient experience. Featuring an expert interview with B.G. Porter of the Studer Group in which he discusses the impact consumerism is having on how hospitals can measure and solicit input from their customers. Mentions from the Show: What can Yelp teach us about measuring hospital quality? What Yelp can tell you about a hospital that official ratings can't Yelp Hospital Reviews Capture More Than HCAHPS Surveys The HCAHPS Survey – Frequently Asked Questions The Studer Group online B.G. Porter of the Studer Group Find Us Online: Touchpoint podcast Twitter Reed Smith Twitter Chris Boyer Twitter Chris Boyer website Social Health Institute This episode is made possible by our sponsors, Loyal, Influence Health, & Binary Fountain

This episode is about nothing less than elevating the human condition at the forefront of healthcare delivery.  It is about enriching and empowering professional caregivers through real-time written feedback from the patients they care for, so that they can, in turn, create a sustained culture of caring, comfort, compassion, trust and safety for patients and patients’ families.  The solution we’ll discuss this week focuses on directly recognizing & appreciating the professionals and staff who are, all-too-often, the unsung frontline heroes of healthcare delivery.Our guest this week is Alex Coren - a female entrepreneur, inventor, digital tech wizard & international speaker who was named #1 female student entrepreneur in the U.S.   In 2016 she formed a company called Wambi.  In 2017, she formed Carepostcard and Humans of Wambi - two other products which elevate humanism in healthcare.  Her overarching mission is to catalyze what she has named, ‘The Compassionate Care Movement’.  Alex is an impressive and inspiring leader.   She is a powerhouse of purpose, passion & productivity.  What she is doing to improve care in the acute and post acute setting is so simple and so ingenious that you’ll wonder why no one has thought about this or done it up until now.  Her personal story is equally as compelling, and provides some explanation for what catalyzed her to create such a unique and innovative contribution.  Alex grew up with two parents who were chronically ill - constantly in and out of the acute care healthcare settings.  Over the course of years, she observed, up close and personal, the essential vulnerability and dependence of being a patient in the hospital setting.  As a result, she developed a tremendous gratitude, respect and deep admiration for those frontline caregivers that worked tirelessly to care for her parents, and for her. It may come as no surprise, that her first job was in an acute care facility, being a manager responsible for patient experience.  What she observed in this role - to her surprise - was the widespread depersonalization that frontline providers & staff experienced - literally the sense of ‘not being seen’ or recognized.  She also observed the outcomes - which included depersonalized care, lower patient satisfaction, worse outcomes of care, low employee morale, and an extremely high staff turnover rate.   Out of these challenging experiences as a child, her early empathetic professional observations, and her brilliant and bold mind, she created Wambi.  Wambi is a patient-driven, healthcare employee performance platform aimed at recognizing and empowering compassionate care.  It uniquely addresses patient satisfaction where it starts - with the care providers - through the eyes of patients and their families.  It’s a gamified digital platform informed by real-time patient/family feedback, which supports care providers with individualized patient/customer experience data as a means to promote autonomy and inspire sustained behavioral change.   This product serves to improve care provider engagement, decrease staff turnover and burnout, and elevate the patient experience.  And it works.  The hospitals her team have deployed the Wambi platform in have experienced up to a 20% decrease in staff turnover within 5 months times; a 30 to 40% increase in staff engagement, and double digit increases in HCAHPS scores.  Alex Coren and her team come at this serious & long-standing problem in healthcare with a fresh perspective and a new set of solutions.  This is an essential ‘must-listen’ podcast interview for any manager and/or leader involved in hospital, post acute care or home healthcare, who wants to create a culture of compassion.The contents of this interview are compelling enough.  But there is more to the story.  This dialogue with Alex is a profound lesson in leadership - a lesson in the art of simplicity, gratitude, courage and conviction.  Alex’s sense of purpose is palpable.  Her bold entrepreneurial spirit, and the humanistic mission she and her team are on, are hugely inspiring.  In this interview, I ask her for her secret ‘super-power’.  It’s well worth the listen just to hear her response to that question.I hope you appreciate and benefit from this dialogue as much as I have! 

How do more tenured nurses feel about value based care? It’s a question that challenges any person in a staffing and management position. The ideas of value based purchasing, raising HCAHPS scores, and patient satisfaction aren’t new for staff members in a hospital setting. For the nursing staff on the front lines, however; the concept […] The post [PODCAST] Introducing Tenured Staff to Value Based Care appeared first on Always Culture.

How do more tenured nurses feel about value based care? It’s a question that challenges any person in a staffing and management position. The ideas of value based purchasing, raising HCAHPS scores, and patient satisfaction aren’t new for staff members in a hospital setting. For the nursing staff on the front lines, however; the concept […] The post [PODCAST] Introducing Tenured Staff to Value Based Care appeared first on Always Culture.

Date: May 5, 2011 Featuring: Maureen Bisognano, President and CEO, Institute for Healthcare Improvement The last time WIHI sat down with Maureen Bisognano (September 9, 2010: "Leaders Never Stop Learning") she was newly ensconced as the head of IHI and everyone was getting a big dose of her undying optimism and passion for new designs to improve care that include input from patients and families every step of the way. Seven months later, Maureen is as committed to these principles as ever, in part because everywhere she travels she witnesses the benefits that true patient-centered care and true collaboration have on people’s lives — including the clinicians on the front lines. And yet, it’s easy to understand why leaders of health care organizations today aren’t always so sure how to connect their own home-grown innovations to the high-stakes challenges cropping up on the larger stage. Will cultivating a robust system of patient advisors lead to better HCAHPS (satisfaction) scores? Greater fiscal stability? Will a unique partnership with a home care agency and the local senior center reduce unnecessary hospital readmissions enough to avoid losing out on reimbursements? If infection rates drop, along with endless backups in the emergency department, does this make the hospital a good candidate to form or be part of an accountable care organization (ACO)? If a clinical practice gets a “meaningful” electronic health record system up and running, and patients have new ways to see (and know) what doctors and nurses see (and know), will it make it easier to get certified as a medical home? Leaders can’t just ask these questions today; they need to have some answers. They also need new ways to explain multiple priorities and simultaneous goals to their hard-working staff, as well as how all the efforts link to the larger aims of health care reform. Are there overarching frames that can help? Maureen Bisognano believes so. WIHI host Madge Kaplan talks with Maureen about her most recent travels, her learning, and her guidance for “leading across the continuum” of care.

In the third installment of the TouchPoint podcast, Reed Smith and Chris Boyer discuss online reputation management (ORM), how best to define it and what elements are important for hospitals to consider. From SEO to social media to publishing HCAHPS scores on physician profiles, the hosts explore the impact good reputation management has on the digital patient experience and wonder if there are better ways to measure reputation IRL. The hosts also debate the merits of third-party review sites vs. a hospital website as the most authoritative source for a health system's reputation. Lastly, Rob Birgfield of Inova Health System joins us from an evening commute to discuss best-practices on gaining organizational support of reputation management. A fun and informative episode!

There are five questions on the HCAHPS survey dealing with the discharge home, or the transition of care, and they all center around the patient’s level of understanding of their discharge instructions and your staff’s level of understanding of patient preferences. For improved HCAHPS scores, we need to recognize a problem with the discharge process: we, […] The post [PODCAST] Adjusting the Discharge Process for Improved HCAHPS Scores appeared first on Always Culture.

There are five questions on the HCAHPS survey dealing with the discharge home, or the transition of care, and they all center around the patient’s level of understanding of their discharge instructions and your staff’s level of understanding of patient preferences. For improved HCAHPS scores, we need to recognize a problem with the discharge process: we, […] The post [PODCAST] Adjusting the Discharge Process for Improved HCAHPS Scores appeared first on Always Culture.

Nearly every patient that comes into the hospital arrives with pain. Controlling pain and working towards HCAHPS improvement can be a challenge. The HCAHPS survey asks two questions with regards to pain management: “How often was your pain well-controlled?”  “How often did hospital staff do everything they could to help you with your pain?” Listen […] The post [PODCAST] Effective Pain Management for HCAHPS Improvement appeared first on Always Culture.

Nearly every patient that comes into the hospital arrives with pain. Controlling pain and working towards HCAHPS improvement can be a challenge. The HCAHPS survey asks two questions with regards to pain management: “How often was your pain well-controlled?”  “How often did hospital staff do everything they could to help you with your pain?” Listen […] The post [PODCAST] Effective Pain Management for HCAHPS Improvement appeared first on Always Culture.

Communication with patients on medications is important for both patient experience, HCAHPS scores, AND patient safety. Listen to the podcast to learn tactics for improving communication on medications or checkout the full video and article: Communication on Medications Effects HCAHPS Scores and Patient Safety The post [PODCAST] Communication on Medications Effects HCAHPS Scores and Patient Safety appeared first on Always Culture.

Communication with patients on medications is important for both patient experience, HCAHPS scores, AND patient safety. Listen to the podcast to learn tactics for improving communication on medications or checkout the full video and article: Communication on Medications Effects HCAHPS Scores and Patient Safety The post [PODCAST] Communication on Medications Effects HCAHPS Scores and Patient Safety appeared first on Always Culture.

When a patient sits down with their HCAHPS survey to answer questions on how they communicated with their nurses, they’re going to be answering questions based on just about every communication they had with all staff members at the hospital… Listen to the podcast to learn tactics for improving patient communication with nurses or checkout the full video […] The post [PODCAST] The Metric that Most Correlates with Overall HCAHPS Ratings appeared first on Always Culture.

When a patient sits down with their HCAHPS survey to answer questions on how they communicated with their nurses, they’re going to be answering questions based on just about every communication they had with all staff members at the hospital… Listen to the podcast to learn tactics for improving patient communication with nurses or checkout the full video […] The post [PODCAST] The Metric that Most Correlates with Overall HCAHPS Ratings appeared first on Always Culture.

The HCAHPS survey asks about the measure of responsiveness in a very specific way. It doesn’t ask about responsiveness as it relates to how food trays are delivered, how medications are handled or how transportation is provided throughout the hospital. The HCAHPS survey asks about responsiveness in two specific areas… Listen to the podcast to […] The post [PODCAST] 2 Key Measurements for the HCAHPS Survey Responsiveness Score appeared first on Always Culture.

The HCAHPS survey asks about the measure of responsiveness in a very specific way. It doesn’t ask about responsiveness as it relates to how food trays are delivered, how medications are handled or how transportation is provided throughout the hospital. The HCAHPS survey asks about responsiveness in two specific areas… Listen to the podcast to […] The post [PODCAST] 2 Key Measurements for the HCAHPS Survey Responsiveness Score appeared first on Always Culture.

Note:  The Crux Points team is taking this week off, so in the place of a new episode, we’re replaying one of our more popular episodes from earlier this year. New episodes will resume August 18th. RJ Salus of El Camino Hospital joins the podcast to talk about his experience as a pioneer in the patient experience discipline. Look forward to hearing RJ share his guiding philosophies on the patient experience, why he feels patient experience measurement must go beyond HCAHPS and how his personal experiences have influenced how he approaches his job. More information at castandhue.com/cruxpoints

Paul Roemer, Global Healthcare Consumerism Leader at IBM joins the podcast to talk about the pre and post visit patient experience. Look forward to Paul sharing why he thinks that many hospitals are delivering a 2.0 care experience but a “.2” pre and post care experience and why he doesn’t believe HCAHPS is a true barometer of the patient experience. More information at sitewirehealth.com/cruxpoints

RJ Salus of El Camino Hospital joins the podcast to talk about his experience as a pioneer in the patient experience discipline. Look forward to hearing RJ share his guiding philosophies on the patient experience, why he feels patient experience measurement must go beyond HCAHPS and how his personal experiences have influenced how he approaches his job. More information at sitewirehealth.com/cruxpoints

Today, Clint chats with Brian Lee, a fellow colleague and speaker in the healthcare profession. They discuss customer service in relation to employee recruiting and retention, given the coming healthcare program of HCAHPS. As Brian elaborates, employee morale drives positive outcomes in patient satisfaction, which he relates to the HCAHPS and similar performance measures.